American 


EDITED   BY 


JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 


£meriran 


THADDEUS  STEVENS 


BY 


SAMUEL  W.  McCALL 


^£cALiFcm^ 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 


1899 


Copyright,  1899, 
BY  SAMUEL  W.  McCALL. 

All  rights  reserved. 


PKEFACE 

THADDEUS  STEVENS  was  the  unquestioned 
leader  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from 
July  4,  1861,  when  it  assembled  at  the  call  of 
Lincoln,  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1868. 
The  legislative  work  of  that  period  stands  unap- 
proached  in  difficulty  and  importance  in  the 
history  of  Congress,  if  not,  indeed,  of  any  par 
liamentary  body  in  the  world.  Stevens  was  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
during  the  war,  and  afterwards  of  the  Com 
mittees  on  Appropriations  and  Reconstruction. 
He  was,  therefore,  especially  identified  with  the 
financial  measures  of  the  war,  including  the 
legal  tender  acts,  also  with  reconstruction,  with 
the  great  constitutional  amendments,  and  with 
the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson.  I  have 
dwelt  very  slightly  upon  his  connection,  during 
the  later  period  of  his  congressional  service, 
with  other  matters,  which,  although  some  of 
them  would  have  been  of  great  consequence  in 
ordinary  times,  were  dwarfed  and  robbed  of 
interest  by  the  stupendous  events  with  which 
they  were  associated. 


vi  PREFACE 

The  fact  that  no  extended  biography  of  Ste 
vens  has  ever  been  published  would  have  very 
greatly  augmented  the  difficulty  of  my  work 
had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance  which  has 
been  generously  given  me.  I  desire  especially 
to  acknowledge  my  obligation  to  Hon.  Marriott 
Brosius,  who  lias  for  many  years  represented 
Stevens's  former  district  in  Congress ;  to  Pro 
fessor  C.  F.  Richardson,  of  Dartmouth  College ; 
to  Mr.  C.  B.  Tillinghast,  of  the  Massachusetts 
State  Library ;  to  Mr.  A.  R.  Spofford  and  Mr. 
J.  Q.  Howard,  of  the  Library  of  Congress ;  and 
to  those  two  venerable  and  distinguished  states 
men,  the  Hon.  Henry  L.  Dawes  and  Hon. 
George  S.  Boutwell,  who  served  with  Stevens  in 
Congress  during  the  war  period,  and  were  inti 
mately  associated  with  him  in  most  of  the  im 
portant  legislation  of  that  era. 

S.  W.  McCALL. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  January  19,  1899. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  YOUTH       .                1 

II.  THE  LAW 19 

III.  ENTRANCE  INTO  PUBLIC  LIFE — FREE  SCHOOLS  28 

IV.  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION — THE  "  BUCK 

SHOT  WAR  "  —  ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS        .  46 

V.  CONGRESS  —  ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES        .  66 
VI.  RESUMES  LAW  PRACTICE  —  AGAIN  RETURNED 

TO  CONGRESS  —  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860      .        .  89 
VII.  SECESSION  —  CHARACTER  OF  SLAVERY  AGITA 
TION    115 

VIII.   LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE 136 

IX.   THE  LEGAL  TENDER 152 

X.  WAR  REVENUE  MEASURES      ....  174 

XI.  WAR  LEGISLATION 182 

XII.  EMANCIPATION 210 

XIII.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION        .  229 

XIV.  THE  JOHNSON  PLAN 244 

XV.  THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT         .  256 

XVI.  RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION  AND  ITS  RE 
SULTS      285 

XVII.   WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    .        .  809 

XVIII.   THE  IMPEACHMENT 323 

XIX.  LAST  DAYS 349 

INDEX 355 


THADDEUS  STEVENS 


CHAPTER  I 

YOUTH 

THADDEUS  STEVENS,  the  son  of  Joshua  and 
Sally  Stevens,  was  born  in  Danville,  Vermont, 
April  4,  1792.  Not  much  is  known  of  his 
ancestors,  although  enough  to  enable  us  to  de 
termine  the  character  of  the  stock,  which  was 
evidently  Anglo-Saxon.  His  parents  removed 
from  Methuen,  in  Essex  County,  Massachu 
setts,  to  Danville,  about  the  year  1786,  with  a 
small  company  of  immigrants,  mostly  bearing 
the  names  of  Harris  and  Morrill,  the  latter  be 
ing  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother.  The  name 
of  Joshua  Stevens,  or  Stephens,  as  it  was  on 
that  occasion,  and  often,  written,  makes  a  soli 
tary  appearance  in  the  records  of  Haverhill,  in 
1712,  before  Methuen  had  been  set  off  from 
that  town.  It  is  found  with  the  names  of  eight 
others,  all  of  whom  lived  in  that  part  of  the 
town  which  afterwards  became  Methuen,  upon 


2  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

a  petition  asking  an  abatement  of  their  taxes  for 
the  support  of  the  ministry  and  the  school  "on 
account  of  the  great  distance  they  lived  from 
the  town  and  the  difficulty  they  met  with  in 
coming." l  If  the  signer  of  this  petition  was  an 
ancestor  of  our  hero,  this  lonely  circumstance, 
coming  from  the  distant  past,  stands  somewhat 
in  contrast  with  the  great  speech  with  which 
more  than  a  century  afterwards  Thaddeus  Ste 
vens  saved  from  repeal  the  free -school  system  of 
Pennsylvania. 

The  father  of  Thaddeus  does  not  appear  to 
have  had  the  thrifty  and  enterprising  qualities 
necessary  to  achieve  success  in  the  wilderness, 
although  he  was  well  versed  in  the  science  of 
surveying,  so  useful  to  the  pioneer,  and  which 
in  the  settlement  of  this  country  has  often 
brought  to  its  possessor  not  merely  good  wages, 
but  also  large  tracts  of  land  gained  by  "survey 
ing  on  the  shares."  He  re-surveyed  the  lines  of 
the  town  of  Danville  in  1790,  and  his  measure 
ments  are  the  legal  ones  to-day.  He  was  a  shoe 
maker  also,  and  his  son  Thaddeus  learned  enough 
of  the  trade  to  enable  him  to  make  shoes  for 
the  family.  He  enjoyed  a  wide  reputation  as 
an  athlete,  especially  at  wrestling,  and  was  able, 
like  young  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  throw  any  man 
in  his  neighborhood.  The  accounts  are  uniform 
1  Chase,  History  of  Haverhill,  p.  237. 


YOUTH  3 

in  attributing  to  him  great  poverty,  although 
they  disagree  as  to  the  method  of  his  final  escape 
from  it.  One  version  has  it  that  he  ran  away 
from  his  family  a  few  years  after  settling  in 
Danville,  and  was  never  heard  of  again ;  another 
that  he  was  killed  in  the  war  of  1812;  while  yet 
another  has  it  that  he  died  at  home  while  his 
children  were  young.  This  much  appears  cer-^ 
tain,  that  the  mother  was  left  in  extreme  penury/ 
with  four  children,  all  boys,  to  support  and  edu-j 
cate. 

The  location  of  Danville  on  the  western  edge 
of  the  valley  which  there  takes  its  name  from 
the  Passumpsic,  but  a  few  miles  further  south 
merges  into  the  Connecticut,  is  beautiful  in  the 
extreme.  The  land  rises  rapidly  towards  the 
west  from  St.  Johnsbury,  ten  miles  distant,  and 
in  general  level  it  attains  an  altitude  in  Danville 
of  about  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
principal  peaks  of  the  White  and  Franconia 
mountains  in  New  Hampshire  are  distinctly 
visible,  and  in  the  other  direction  the  Green 
Mountains  make  a  jagged  horizon,  with  their 
summits  uplifted  against  the  sky.  Pleasing  as 
are  the  outlines  of  the  mountains  and  the  beauty 
of  the  valleys  and  lesser  hills,  they  form  by  no 
means  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  scen 
ery.  No  verdure  has  a  brighter  green  in  the 
springtime,  or  a  more  brilliant  variety  of  color- 


4  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

ing  in  the  autumn  than  the  maple  forests  in  that 
portion  of  Vermont.  One  would  not  know 
where  to  find  a  more  gorgeous  picture  than  can 
be  seen  from  one  of  the  hills  in  that  region  upon 
a  clear  September  or  October  day.  The  maple- 
'trees  afforded  a  more  solid  benefit  than  to  color 
the  landscape ;  and  when  the  supply  of  food  was 
almost  exhausted  at  the  close  of  a  long  winter, 
they  furnished  that  well-known,  wholesome  sugar 
which  helped  to  preserve  the  first  immigrants 
from  starvation.1  Not  the  least  of  the  hardships 
which  those  pioneers  had  to  endure  was  the  rigor 
of  the  climate.  At  a  point  north  of  the  44th 
parallel,  and  remote  from  the  sea,  the  cold  was 
of  course  severe.  The  snow  lay  deep  upon  the 
hillsides  until  late  in  the  springtime  and  re 
turned  before  the  end  of  the  autumn,  but  the 
fertile  soil  yielded  bountiful  crops  even  in  the 
brief  summer.  In  spite  of  these  severities, 
however,  the  settlement  was  soon  firmly  planted, 
and,  on  the  whole,  with  much  less  than  the  usual 
suffering. 

—  The  start  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  in  life  was 
lowly  enough,  but  not  on  that  account  unpro 
mising.  It  is  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  his 
family  was  even  desperately  poor ;  but  the  rude 
state  of  the  society  about  him  presented  slight 
inequalities  of  condition,  and  interposed  few 

1  Vermont  Historical  Gazetteer,  vol.  i.  p.  313. 


YOUTH  5 

obstacles  between  him  and  nature,  with  whom  he 
was  invited  to  a  struggle  to  win  what  she  had  to 
yield.  jXThe  wild  freedom  of  the  life  about  him, 
the  rigor  of  the  climate,  the  great  natural  beauty 
of  the  surroundings,  and  the  strong  and  law- 
abiding  qualities  of  the  community  in  which  he 
lived,  formed  a  series  of  happy  circumstances. 
The  SQcial  and  political  influences  to  which  he 
was  subjected  were  intensely  democratic.  The 
stirring  events  of  the  ReYnlntion  wftr^  fr^sh  in 
the  minds  of  men,  and  the  heroes  of  that  strug 
gle,  still  in  their  prime,  could  be  found  in  every 
considerable  town.  The  system  of  government 
established  by  the  Constitution  had  just  gone 
into  operation,  and,  while  it  imposed  checks  upon 
hasty  popular  action,  it  was  admirably  designed 
to  secure,  in  the  conditions  then  existing,  the 
enactment  into  law  of  the  sober  second  thought 
of  the  people,  and  was  thus,  in  the  best  sense,  a 
democratic  government. 

There  were  also  special  facts  in  the  history! 
of  Vermont  which  powerfully  tended  to  develop) 
in  a  bright  and  studious  boy  the  qualities  of  in-/ 
dividuality  and  of  a  sturdy  independence.     The 
territory  of  that  State  had  been  claimed  at  the 
same  time  by  Great  Britain,  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  York,  and  also  by  the 
government  of   the  confederation.     While  her 
soldiers  contributed  greatly  by  their  valor  to  win 


6  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  victory  of  the  colonies  over  the  common 
enemy,  the  State,  in  the  sounding  language  of 
Ethan  Allen,  acknowledged  no  allegiance  but  to 
the  King  of  kings.1  For  years  she  successfully 
asserted  her  independence  of  all  other  powers, 
maintained  her  own  army,  coined  her  own 
money,  and  exercised  such  other  attributes  of 
sovereignty  as  she  chose  to  assume.  At  length 
she  accomplished  her  desire,  and  was  admitted 
into  the  Union  as  an  independent  State  upon 
equal  terms  with  New  York,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Massachusetts,  each  of  whom  had  previously 
alleged  ownership  of  her. 

Among  such  a  people  and  at  such  a  time  an 
aristocracy  of  wealth  and  of  birth  stood  little 
chance  of  being  developed.  The  work  to  be 
done  required  men,  and  the  exacting  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  society  uncovered  merit  and  used 
it  wherever  it  might  be  found.  The  possession 
of  property,  of  which  indeed  very  little  existed, 
gave  no  unfair  advantage,  and  the  lack  of  it 
caused  no  inconvenience,  save  the  necessity  for 
more  strenuous  exertion.  If  a  settler  did  not 
have  a  horse  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  walk 
and  to  carry  his  wood  or  other  load  upon  his 

1  That  the  early  settlers  of  Vermont  did  not  consider  them 
selves  unequal  to  any  task  may  be  inferred  from  the  resolu 
tion,  passed  by  the  Council  of  Public  Safety  during  the  revo 
lutionary  period,  that  the  laws  of  God  and  Connecticut  be 
adopted  "  until  we  have  time  to  frame  better." 


YOUTH  7 

back;  and  while  the  man  with  property  might 
supply  his  wants  with  less  labor,  —  for  anything 
like  real  luxury  was  unknown,  —  he  gained  no 
social  prestige  over  his  poorer  neighbor.  The 
conditions  with  which  Stevens  was  surrounded 
were  thus  admirably  adapted  to  implant  and 
powerfully  strengthen  the  hatred  of  privilege 
and  the  idea  of  democratic  equality,  which  so 
strongly  characterized  him  in  after  years. 

Stevens  was  most  fortunate  in  his  mother. 
All  accounts  agree  that  she  was  remarkable  for 
character  and  strength  of  mind.  She  made  a 
heroic  struggle  to  overcome  the  disadvantages  of 
poverty  and  to  give  her  children  a  good  educa 
tion.  Thaddeus  was  sickly  in  his  youth,  and  his 
mother  determined  to  send  him  to  college.  Her 
other  boys,  however,  were  by  no  means  neg 
lected,  and  each  one  of  them  afterwards  achieved 
distinction  in  his  chosen  pursuit.  The  history 
of  Stevens 's  boyhood  is  marked  by  few  incidents 
except  those  which  naturally  grow  out  of  a  wild 
and  stirring  frontier  life.  When  he  was  twelve 
years  old  his  parents  took  him  on  a  visit  to  Bos 
ton,  which  was  then  a  small  town,  but  by  far  the 
largest  that  Stevens  had  ever  seen.  The  sight 
of  it  kindled  his  ambition,  and  he  determined  to 
become  rich.  Another  incident  of  his  early  life 
is  preserved,  which  shows  the  character  of  his 
mother.  The  year  after  his  visit  to  Boston  a 


8  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

plague,  known  among  the  settlers  as  the  "spotted 
fever,"  broke  out  and  raged  violently  throughout 
Danville  and  the  adjoining  towns.  So  many 
were  stricken  with  the  disease  that  it  was  im 
possible  to  procure  proper  attendance.  Mrs. 
Stevens  was  untiring  in  her  care  of  the  sick, 
going  from  house  to  house,  ministering  to  their 
wants  and  alleviating  their  sufferings  in  every 
way  in  her  power.  She  frequently  took  Thad- 
deus  with  her  upon  these  visits,  and  an  impres 
sion  was  made  upon  him  which  he  never  forgot. 
From  whatever  cause,  his  sympathy  for  suffering 
was  throughout  his  life  one  of  the  strongest 
traits  of  his  character. 

He  could  never  sufficiently  acknowledge  his 
indebtedness  to  his  mother.  Long  years  after, 
he  said  of  her:  "I  really  think  the  greatest 
pleasure  of  my  life  resulted  from  my  ability  to 
give  my  mother  a  farm  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
acres,  and  a  dairy  of  fourteen  cows,  and  an  oc 
casional  bright  gold  piece,  which  she  loved  to 
deposit  in  the  contributor's  box  of  the  Baptist 
Church  which  she  attended.  This  always  gave 
her  much  pleasure  and  me  much  satisfaction. 
My  mother  was  a  very  extraordinary  woman. 
I  have  met  very  few  women  like  her.  My  father 
was  not  a  well-to-do  man,  and  the  support  and 
education  of  the  family  depended  upon  my  mo 
ther.  She  worked  day  and  night  to  educate  me. 


YOUTH  9 

I  was  feeble  and  lame  in  youth,  and  as  I  could 
not  work  on  the  farm,  she  concluded  to  give  me 
an  education.  I  tried  to  repay  her  afterwards, 
but  the  debt  of  a  child  to  his  mother,  you  know, 
is  one  of  the  debts  we  can  never  pay."  He 
gratefully  cherished  her  memory  to  the  last,  and 
by  his  will  he  established  a  fund,  the  income  of 
which  was  forever  to  be  used  to  plant  each 
springtime  "roses  and  other  cheerful  flowers" 
upon  her  grave. 

The  means  of  education  at  the  disposal  of 
young  Stevens  were  not  of  so  limited  a  character 
as  might  be  supposed.  That  portion  of  Ver 
mont  had  only  just  been  settled  at  the  time  of 
"his  birth,  and  yet  the  tide  of  immigration  set 
in  so  strongly  that  when  he  was  a  dozen  years 
old  his  native  town  was  nearly  as  populous  as  it 
is  to-day.  The  first  sounds  of  the  axe  had 
hardly  broken  the  silence  of  the  wilderness 
when,  true  to  the  instinct  of  the  race  from  which 
they  sprang,  the  settlers  established  a  court  for 
the  peaceable  settlement  of  their  disputes,  and;  a 
school  for  the  education  of  their  children.  It 
was  agreed  that  Danville  should  be  the  shire 
town  and  have  the  court-house,  and  that  the 
academy  should  be  established  in  the  adjoining 
town  of  Peacham.  A  charter  was  obtained  in 
1795,  and  the  academy  now  in  existence  in  the 
latter  town  began  its  long  and  honorable  career. 


10  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

The  academy  possessed  greater  attraction  for 
Mrs.  Stevens  than  the  court-house,  and  accord 
ingly  she  moved  to  Peacham,  that  she  might 
educate  her  boys.  The  school  was  a  very  hum 
ble  institution  both  architecturally  and  in  its 
means  of  instruction.  It  had  no  large  endow 
ment,  no  long  list  of  learned  teachers,  and  no 
imposing  buildings  to  strike  the  imagination; 
but  its  rude  halls  were  thronged  with  pupils 
eager  to  acquire  knowledge,  and  they  made  the 
most  of  all  the  means  at  their  command.  In 
fact,  with  the  ardor  of  bright  scholars,  they 
seemed  willing  to  improve  upon  the  ordinary 
facilities  of  the  school,  and  to  introduce  more 
modern  methods  than  the  board  of  trustees  were 
willing  to  sanction.  The  rules  provided  that 
there  should  be  each  year  "an  exhibition,  in 
which  the  male  scholars  shall  be  the  only  per 
formers,  and  that  the  pieces  to  be  spoken  shall 
be  selected  by  the  preceptor  and  submitted  to 
the  inspection  of  the  prudential  committee." 
This  rule  apparently  did  not  secure  a  sufficiently 
sombre  programme,  and  its  defects  were  repaired 
by  two  amendments,  one  of  which  provided 
"that  there  be  no  performances  by  candle-light," 
and  the  other  that  the  exhibition  "  be  regulated 
so  as  to  exclude  tragedies,  comedies,  and  other 
theatrical  performances." 1 

1  The  Peacham  Academy  Centennial  Address,  by  Hon.  C.  A. 
Bunker,  1897. 


YOUTH  11 

At  this  point  Thaddeus  Stevens  for  the  first 
time  emerges  into  the  full  light  of  history,  and 
in  view  of  his  subsequent  anathemas  against 
treason,  it  is  remarkable  that  his  first  appear 
ance  should  have  been  in  the  role  of  a  rebel. 
However  exemplary  the  course  of  Stevens  at 
the  academy  may  have  been  in  other  respects, 
his  good  deeds  have  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the 
historian  of  the  school,  and  his  open  violation  of 
both  the  rules  I  have  cited  is  the  one  conspicu 
ous  circumstance  that  survives.  He  appears  to 
have  been  stage-struck,  and  also  to  have  pre 
ferred  the  glare  of  the  candle  to  the  daylight. 
Accordingly,  on  October  7,  1811,  we  find  the 
trustees  passing  a  vote,  naming  thirteen  stu 
dents,  of  whom  Stevens  was  one,  and  resolving 
that  their  course,  "in  refusing  on  the  day  of 
publick  exhibition,  being  the  4th  day  of  Septem 
ber  last,  to  proceed  in  their  exhibition  in  the 
day  time  while  the  board  were  waiting  to  see 
their  performance  was  conduct  highly  reprehen 
sible.  And  that  their  proceeding  to  exhibit  a 
tragedy  in  the  evening  of  the  said  day,  contrary 
to  the  known  rules  and  orders  of  the  school  and 
the  express  prohibition  of  the  preceptor,  was  a 
gross  violation  of  the  rules  and  by-laws  of  the 
institution,  tending  to  subvert  all  order  and  sub 
ordination  in  said  school,  and  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  society,  and  that  they  be  required 


12  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

to  subscribe  the  following  submission,  viz. : 
We,  the  subscribers,  students  in  the  Academy  at 
Peacham,  having  been  concerned  in  the  exhibi 
tion  of  a  tragedy  on  the  evening  of  September 
4,  1811,  contrary  to  the  known  rules  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  on  reflection  are  convinced 
that  we  have  done  wrong  in  not  paying  a  suit 
able  respect  to  the  authority  of  the  board,  and 
hereby  promise  that,  as  long  as  we  continue  stu 
dents  at  this  Academy,  we  will  observe  such 
rules  as  the  board  may  prescribe."  Mr.  Bun 
ker  says  that  Stevens  signed  the  paper  with  great 
reluctance  and  because  he  could  do  nothing  else, 
and  that  he  then  completed  his  preparation  for 
college,  but  "never  forgot  his  chagrin."  He 
may  have  signed  the  paper,  but  probably  not  for 
the  purpose  of  going  back  to  the  academy,  for 
his  preparation  was  already  finished,  and  he  en 
tered  Dartmouth  College  during  the  fall  of  1811 
as  a  sophomore. 

There  is  a  lack  of  very  definite  information 
as  to  his  career  in  college.  The  commonly  ac 
cepted  version  that  he  first  entered  the  Univer 
sity  of  Vermont,  and  while  a  student  there  wit 
nessed  the  battle  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  that 
afterwards  he  went  to  Dartmouth,  is  incorrect. 
The  battle  occurred  September  11,  1814,  and  he 
graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  the  summer  of 
that  year.  The  records  of  the  two  colleges  make 


YOUTH  13 

it  clear  that  he  took  his  entire  college  course  at 
Dartmouth,  excepting  the  latter  part  of  the  col 
lege  year,  1812-1813.1 

When  Stevens  entered  Dartmouth  more  than 
forty  years  had  elapsed  since  Eleazar  Wheelock 
had  planted  it  in  the  wilderness  at  Hanover. 
It  remained  for  many  years  the  only  college  in 
northern  New  England,  and  the  rapid  settlement 
of  that  region  gave  it  great  prosperity.2  During 
Stevens's  connection  with  the  college  its  stu 
dents  usually  numbered  about  one  hundred  and 
forty,  and  it  had  a  faculty  of  eight  instructors 
besides  the  president.  Professor  Moore,  after 
wards  the  president  of  Amherst  and  Williams 
colleges,  and  Professors  Shurtleff  and  Adams 
were  perhaps  the  most  learned  of  the  teachers. 
The  president  was  Dr.  John  Wheelock,  the  son 
of  the  founder  of  the  college.  The  quality  of 
his  influence  may  be  determined  in  a  measure 
from  the  portrait  of  him  which  survives  in  the 
journal  of  George  Ticknor,  who  graduated  from 

1  I  am  indebted  to  Professor  C.  F.  Richardson,  of  Dart 
mouth,  and  to  Professor  J.  E.  Goodrich,  of  the  University  of 
Vermont,  for  the  most  important  facts  in  connection  with  his 
college  course. 

2  In  1791  it  graduated  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.  49,  while  the 
number  for  the  same  year  was  27  for  each  of  the  other  leading 
colleges,  Harvard,  Yale,  and  Princeton ;  and  for  the  decade 
1790-1800  the  number  of  graduates  was :  Harvard,  394 ;  Dart 
mouth,  363;  Yale,  295;   Princeton,  240.     Chase,  History  of 
Dartmouth  College,  p.  615. 


14  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  college  four  years  before  Stevens  entered  it. 
"Dr.  Wheelock  was  stiff  and  stately.  He  read 
constantly,  sat  up  late,  and  got  up  early.  He 
talked  very  gravely  and  slow,  with  a  falsetto 
voice.  Mr.  Webster  [who  graduated  in  1801] 
could  imitate  him  perfectly.  He  had  been  in 
England,  he  had  had  a  finger  in  politics,  and 
had  been  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army  of  the 
Eevolution,  but  there  was  not  the  least  trace  of 
either  of  these  portions  of  his  life  in  his  man 
ners  or  conversation  at  this  time.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  formal  men  I  ever  knew." l 

The  course  of  study  at  Dartmouth  College,  in 
1811,  was  very  similar  to  that  of  the  other  col 
leges  of  that  day.  Timothy  Dwight,  who  was 
at  the  time  president  of  Yale  College,  has  given 
in  his  ponderous  volumes  of  travel  in  New  York 
and  New  England  an  exact  statement  of  the  re 
quirements  for  admission  and  the  course  of  study 
at  Yale,  and  he  adds  that  the  recital  would  be 
substantially  true  for  all  the  New  England  col 
leges.2  A  candidate  for  the  freshman  class  was 
examined  in  Virgil,  Cicero  and  Sallust,  in  the 
Greek  Testament,  and  in  arithmetic.  The 
course  of  study  included  a  little  Greek,  a  mod 
erate  amount  of  the  higher  mathematics,  and 
considerable  Latin.3  But  Paley  and  Locke  were 

1  Life,  Letters,  and  Journal,  vol.  i.  p.  5. 

2  Travels  in  New  York  and  New  England,  vol.  i.  p.  199. 
s  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  208. 


YOUTH  15 

not  neglected  at  a  time  when  the  professors  were 
chosen  quite  as  much  for  the  soundness  of  their 
theological  views  as  for  their  learning.  The 
course  contained  no  modern  languages,  which, 
indeed,  appear  to  have  been  little  in  demand  in 
this  country  at  that  time,  for  so  late  as  1813, 
and  in  Boston,  when  George  Ticknor  attempted 
to  study  German,  he  had  great  difficulty  in  pro 
curing  the  requisite  books.1 

The  course,  then,  of  the  New  England  college 
of  that  time  was  most  meagre  compared  with  the 
wealth  of  learning  which  the  modern  college  af 
fords;  but  it  was  full  of  strong  discipline,  and 
it  was  possible  for  the  earnest  student  to  acquire 
the  rudiments  of  a  sound  education.  The  libra 
ries  were  not  large,  but  they  contained  the  best 
books,  which  were  doubtless,  read  with  great 
care  by  students  who  were  willing  to  make  such 
sacrifices  to  secure  an  education;  and  some  of 
the  scholars  who  were  disciplined  in  those 
schools  were  able  afterwards  to  contribute  new 
models  to  the  English  tongue. 

Very  little  is  known  of  Stevens 's  life  at  Dart 
mouth  to  distinguish  him  from  the  mass  of  the 
students.  There  was  nothing  sensational  about 

1  He  succeeded  in  borrowing  a  grammar  from  Mr.  Everett, 
a  text-book  from  the  Athenaeum,  where  it  had  been  deposited 
by  J.  Q.  Adams  on  going-  abroad,  and  then  he  was  forced  to 
Bend  to  New  Hampshire  for  a  dictionary.  Journal,  vol.  i.  p0 
11. 


16  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

it,  and,  if  we  may  draw  an  inference  from  his 
known  industry,  it  was  probably  marked  by  pa 
tient  and  plodding  labor.  He  was  a  hard  stu 
dent,  was  sensible  of  the  sacrifice  made  by  his 
mother,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  took 
away  from  those  "cloisters  of  the  hill-girt  plain  " 
all  that  they  had  to  give.  His  style  of  speech 
shows  the  result  of  study  in  a  degree  of  accuracy 
unusual  among  our  public  men.  In  the  last 
years  of  his  life,  when  he  had  attained  the  dis 
tinction  of  being  one  of  the  greatest  parlia 
mentary  leaders  in  our  history,  he  delighted  in 
showing  a  contempt  for  literary  form;  but  at 
the  same  time  his  own  speech  was  faultless,  and 
Mr.  Elaine,  who  served  in  Congress  with  him, 
has  borne  witness  that  rarely  did  a  sentence  fall 
from  his  lips  even  in  the  most  careless  moment 
"that  would  not  bear  the  test  of  grammatical 
and  rhetorical  criticism."1 

Stevens  did  not  pass  the  whole  of  the  time 
from  1811  to  1814  in  Dartmouth  College,  but 
for  one  term,  and  probably  for  two,  he  was  a 
student  in  the  University  of  Vermont.  His 
name  appears  upon  the  president's  list  at  Bur 
lington  for  the  second  term  of  1812-13,  and  also 
on  the  programme  of  the  "exhibition"  at  the 
close  of  the  third  term  on  the  afternoon  preced 
ing  commencement  day  in  the  summer  of  1813. 
1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  325. 


YOUTH  17 

At  this  exhibition  Stevens  took  part  in  an 
"English  Forensic  Disputation"  on  the  ques 
tion:  "Ought  the  Gospel  to  be  Supported  by 
Law?  "  On  the  same  day  was  presented  "The 
Fall  of  Helvetic  Liberty,"  a  tragedy  in  three 
acts,  written  by  Thaddeus  Stevens.  The  "  Fall " 
seems  to  have  been  a  most  imposing  military 
performance,  and  to  have  recognized  the  desira 
bility  of  having  many  officers  and  few  privates. 
Of  the  fourteen  characters  in  the  play  three 
were  French  and  eight  were  Swiss  generals. 
Stevens  played  one  of  the  parts. 

Stevens  is  cited  as  authority  for  a  story, 
which  is  not  wholly  agreeable,  of  an  affair  which 
occurred  while  he  was  in  the  University  of  Ver 
mont,  and  probably  about  the  time  when  his 
play  was  presented.  An  obstinate  resident  of 
Burlington  insisted  upon  pasturing  his  cow  upon 
the  college  campus  at  commencement  time,  in 
spite  of  protests,  and  the  dispute  became  so 
warm  that  one  night  the  cow  became  the  inno 
cent  victim  of  a  somewhat  practical  joke,  and 
was  killed.  Stevens,  whose  authorship  of  a  tra 
gedy  had  prepared  him  for  the  act,  and  another 
student,  who  had  probably  aided  him  in  over 
turning  Helvetic  Liberty,  were  guilty  of  the 
offense,  but  circumstances  pointed  strongly  to 
a  student  who  was  altogether  innocent.  The 
owner  demanded  satisfaction,  and  the  suspected 


18  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

student  was  about  to  be  expelled  from  the  col 
lege.  Stevens  and  his  college  comrade  were  free 
from  suspicion,  but  they  could  not  escape  pun 
ishment  by  keeping  silent.  They  had  the  alter 
native  of  seeing  an  innocent  boy  bear  the  pen 
alty  for  their  misdeed,  or  of  relieving  him  by 
making  a  confession.  They  promptly  decided 
on  the  latter  course,  and  made  a  clean  breast  of 
the  matter  to  the  owner  of  the  cow.  The  man 
proved  to  be  of  a  generous  nature,  even  if  obsti 
nate.  He  refused  to  take  pay  for  the  cow,  and 
exonerated  the  student  under  suspicion  without 
exposing  the  real  culprits.  Many  years  after 
wards  Stevens,  who  never  forgot  a  kindly  act, 
sent  him  a  draft  for  more  than  the  value  of  the 
cow,  and  a  gold  watch  and  chain. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   LAW 

WHEN  Stevens  graduated  from  Dartmouth 
College  he  was  twenty -two  years  old,  well  edu 
cated  for  those  days,  and  wholly  dependent  upon 
his  own  resources.  He  determined  to  study  law, 
a  profession  which,  under  the  circumstances  sur 
rounding  him,  offered  the  shortest  road  to  fame 
and  to  a  livelihood,  if  not  to  fortune.  In  order 
to  support  himself  while  studying  law,  he  taught 
school.  His  native  State  did  not  offer  the 
opportunities  which  he  desired,  and  the  year 
after  graduating  he  removed  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  secured  a  position  as  instructor  in  the 
academy  which  a  few  years  previously  had  been 
established  in  the  town  of  York.  The  place  was 
the  shire  town  of  a  large  and  flourishing  county, 
and  he  was  able  to  pursue  his  legal  studies  under 
favorable  conditions.  By  this  move  from  Ver 
mont  to  Pennsylvania  he  gained  a  broader  field 
for  the  pursuit  of  his  profession.  That,  however, 
was  the  slightest  consequence  of  the  step.  He 
exchanged  a  location  near  the  northern  frontier 


20  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

of  the  country  for  one  which  was  then  very  near 
the  centre  of  our  civilization  and  upon  the  line 
which,  beginning  at  the  Atlantic  and  stretching 
to  our  western  frontier,  with  a  dip  southward, 
formed  the  line  of  battle  along  which  was  to  be 
fought  the  great  contest  for  freedom.  The 
county  of  York  and  that  of  Adams,  to  which  he 
shortly  removed,  were  bounded  upon  the  south 
by  the  slave  territory  of  the  State  of  Maryland. 
He  thus  took  his  place,  and  doubtless  without 
any  intention  upon  his  part,  in  the  thick  of  that 
conflict  in  which  he  was  destined  to  win  the  vic 
tory  which  has  immortalized  his  name. 

The  struggle  to  change  the  location,  at  vari 
ous  points,  of  the  line  which  separated  the  free 
man  and  the  slave  was  bitter  enough,  but  it  did 
not  compare  in  fierceness  or  in  its  influence  in 
bringing  about  the  ultimate  appeal  to  the  sword 
with  the  struggle  over  the  degree  of  tribute 
which  the  institution  of  slavery  should  receive 
from  free  territory.  The  Constitution,  which 
nowhere  used  the  term  slave,  provided  that  no 
person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  es 
caping  into  another,  should  be  discharged  from 
such  service,  but  that  he  should  be  delivered 
upon  the  claim  of  the  owner.  Did  this  mean 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  free  States  were  to 
become  slave  hunters  ?  Did  it  mean  that  a  free 
man  might  be  claimed  as  a  slave,  and  not  have 


THE  LAW  21 

the  great  question  of  his  freedom  passed  upon 
by  a  jury?  Stevens  answered  both  these  ques 
tions  in  the  negative,  and  from  the  very  mo 
ment  when  he  settled  upon  the  confines  of  the 
slave  State  he  became  an  actor  in  a  real  tra 
gedy  which  dwarfed  the  one  spun  from  his  ima 
gination  upon  Helvetic  Liberty.  The  sight  of 
slaves,  fleeing  for  their  liberty  and,  after  weeks 
of  privation  and  suffering,  gaining  the  doubtful 
protection  afforded  them  by  free  soil,  was  to 
him  a  common  occurrence.  Fresh  from  the 
freedom  and  the  untempered  democracy  of  his 
northern  Vermont  home,  he  was  peculiarly  sen 
sitive  to  the  spectacle  of  men  being  claimed  as 
property  and  remanded  into  slavery.  Undoubt 
edly  his  hatred  of  that  "institution"  was  thus 
made  more  intense  and  practical,  and  his  eyes 
were  opened  to  the  fact  that  liberty  possessed 
real  benefits,  and  was  not  a  mere  abstraction. 

It  is  certain  that  while  in  York  he  applied 
himself  to  his  law  studies  with  unceasing  indus 
try.  Amos  Gilbert,  a  famous  Quaker  teacher, 
was  intimately  associated  with  him  at  that  time, 
and  speaks  of  him  as  a  very  modest  young  man 
and  a  remarkably  hard  student.  After  he  had 
read  the  scanty  amount  of  law  then  required  for 
admission  to  the  bar,  he  crossed  the  line  to 
Maryland,  and  took  the  examination  in  a  court 
which  was  being  held  in  a  neighboring  county 


22  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

of  that  State.  The  reason  for  this  proceeding 
is  somewhat  obscure.  According  to  one  report, 
which  rests  upon  doubtful  authority,  a  special 
rule  was  made  in  York  County  to  apply  partic 
ularly  to  Stevens 's  case,  requiring  a  certain  time 
to  be  devoted  wholly  to  the  study  of  law.  The 
rule  itself  was  a  reasonable  one,  and  it  may  well 
be  questioned  whether  personal  hostility  to  Ste 
vens  was  responsible  for  its  existence,  for  at 
that  time  he  was  most  retiring  in  his  habits, 
wholly  given  up  to  his  work  as  a  teacher  and 
student,  and  would  not  naturally  have  aroused 
animosity.  But  whatever  was  the  provocation, 
it  is  evident  that  he  took  the  examination  in 
Maryland  in  order  to  obtain  a  more  speedy  ad 
mission  to  the  Pennsylvania  bar,  which  he  could 
have  as  a  matter  of  courtesy  by  virtue  of  his  cer 
tificate  of  admission  in  another  State. 

He  has  left  an  amusing  account  of  his  brief 
connection  with  the  Maryland  bar.  The  exam 
ination  took  place  in  the  evening  before  the 
judge  and  the  bar  committee.  His  Honor  in 
formed  Stevens  that  there  wa§  one  indispensable 
prerequisite  to  the  examination.  "There  must 
be  two  bottles  of  Madeira  on  the  table,  and  the 
applicant  must  order  it  in."  Stevens  complied 
with  the  condition,  and,  after  the  wine  had  been 
ordered  and  disposed  of,  one  of  the  committee 
asked  the  applicant  what  books  he  had  read. 


THE  LAW  23 

He  replied:  "Blackstone,  Coke  upon  Littleton, 
a  work  on  Pleading,  and  Gilbert  on  Evidence," 
—  a  rather  slender  list,  no  doubt,  but  one  which, 
if  thoroughly  mastered,  would  leave  him  not 
wholly  at  a  disadvantage  with  the  young  prac 
titioner  of  to-day,  who  is  so  often  burdened 
with  a  multitude  of  cases  that  he  loses,  or  never 
secures,  a  grasp  upon  the  underlying  principles. 
He  was  then  asked  two  or  three  questions,  the 
last  of  which  related  to  the  difference  between 
executory  devises  and  contingent  remainders. 
A  satisfactory  answer  to  this  question  led  his 
Honor  again  to  intervene.  "Gentlemen,"  said 
the  judge,  "you  see  the  young  man  is  all  right. 
I  will  give  him  a  certificate."  But  before  the 
certificate  was  delivered,  the  candidate  was  in 
formed  that  usage  required  that  the  ceremony 
should  terminate  in  the  way  in  which  it  had 
opened,  and  that  two  more  bottles  should  be 
produced.  Stevens  very  willingly  complied  with 
this  requirement,  was  made  a  member  of  the 
bar,  and  was  so  elated  at  his  success  that  he 
joined  in  a  game  of  which  he  knew  nothing, 
with  the  not  unnatural  consequence  that  his  slen 
der  stock  of  money  was  soon  exhausted.  The 
next  morning  he  was  in  the  saddle  early,  with 
his  certificate  in  his  pocket,  on  his  way  to  Penn 
sylvania.  He  finally  reached  his  destination 
after  narrowly  escaping  with  his  life  in  crossing 


24  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  Susquehanna,  and  his  brief  career  at  the 
Maryland  bar  terminated  as  abruptly  as  it  had 
been  begun. 

Uncertain  in  what  county  he  should  settle, 
Stevens  visited  Lancaster,  returned  to  York, 
and  finally  decided  to  begin  practice  in  Gettys 
burg,  the  capital  of  the  adjacent  county  of 
Adams,  and  since  made  famous  by  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  dramatic  of  battles.  He  was 
favored  with  the  usual  amount  of  leisure  which 
young  lawyers  have  at  their  disposal,  and  doubt 
less  employed  it  in  supplementing  his  meagre 
preparation  by  further  reading.  His  expenses 
were  small,  but  his  income  was  still  smaller  and 
his  capital  next  to  nothing.  He  had  no  ac 
quaintance  in  the  county,  had  had  no  opportu 
nity  of  showing  the  stuff  he  was  made  of,  and 
altogether  found  the  prospect  to  be  most  dis 
couraging.  Yet  he  had  not  long  to  wait.  Be 
fore  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  quiet  vil 
lage  had  become  aware  of  his  existence,  his 
opportunity  came. 

A  murder  was  committed  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  so  horrible  and  so  certain  in  point  of 
proof  that  the  older  lawyers  of  the  bar  did  not 
dare  to  risk  their  reputations  by  accepting  the 
case  of  the  accused  man.  Stevens  had  no  repu 
tation  to  lose,  and,  if  he  had  enjoyed  a  great 
one,  it  is  almost  certain  that  it  would  not  have 


THE  LAW  25 

deterred  him  from  defending  one  who  was  ac 
cused  of  crime  and  could  secure  no  other  counsel. 
At  any  rate  he  accepted  the  case  and  proved  by 
the  way  in  which  he  conducted  it  that,  while  it 
might  have  destroyed  some  reputations,  it  could 
create  his  own.  He  astonished  everybody  by  his 
skill,  his  eloquence,  and  the  display  of  those 
qualities  which,  according  to  a  most  distinguished 
and  by  no  means  partial  judge,  made  him  before 
he  died  the  equal  of  any  lawyer  in  America. 

Very  likely  Stevens  would  not  have  gained 
so  much  if  he  had  won  his  case  instead  of  losing 
it.  Success  in  desperate  criminal  cases  not  un- 
frequently  puts  a  lawyer  in  the  apparent  posi 
tion  of  being  an  accomplice  in  crime,  while  a 
vigorous  and  unsuccessful  defense  may  establish 
his  reputation  for  courage  and  a  patriotic  will 
ingness  to  demand  the  observance  of  all  the 
forms  of  law  with  whatever  risk  to  himself.  In 
this  particular  case  the  proof  was  beyond  con 
troversy  that  the  prisoner  had  committed  the 
act ;  but  his  counsel  set  up  the  plea  of  insanity, 
which  was  a  defense  far  less  fashionable  and 
certainly  less  effective  at  that  early  day  than  it 
has  since  become,  and  which  was  then  regarded 
as  the  last  resort  of  the  most  hopelessly  guilty 
criminal.  Stevens  undoubtedly  believed  in  the 
soundness  of  the  defense.  Long  afterwards,  in 
speaking  of  the  case,  he  said  that  he  had  been 


26  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

counsel  for  the  prisoner  in  more  than  fifty  mur 
der  cases,  in  all  of  which  but  one  he  had  been 
successful,  but  that  every  defendant  had  deserved 
conviction  except  the  one  who  was  hanged. 
That  one,  he  said,  was  insane. 

Stevens  had  thus  at  last  established  himself, 
and  not  merely  had  received  a  very  substantial 
and  welcome  fee,1  but  had  at  once  taken  his 
natural  place  at  the  head  of  the  Gettysburg  bar. 
His  fame  soon  extended  into  the  adjoining  coun 
ties,  and  he  was  employed  upon  one  side  or  the 
other  of  nearly  every  important  cause  tried  in 
the  vicinity.  Doubtless  these  causes  were  of 
slight  consequence  financially,  if  judged  by  the 
modern  standard.  Large  combinations  of  capi 
tal  and  private  corporations,  which  contribute 
so  much  to  the  successful  lawyer  of  to-day,  were 
almost  unknown  in  the  first  quarter  of  this  cen 
tury.  But  the  principles  involved  were  not  less 
important,  their  application  was  not  so  sordid, 
and  the  work  of  Stevens  at  the  bar  was  broaden 
ing  in  the  extreme  in  its  influence  upon  him. 
He  did  much  work  gratuitously.  Many  a  col 
ored  man,  claimed  as  a  slave,  gained  his  freedom 
through  the  shrewdness  and  skill  of  Stevens, 

O 

who,  when  legal  expedients  failed,  sometimes 
paid  the  ransom  out  of  his  own  pocket.  For 

1  Fifteen  hundred  dollars.     Harris,  Biographical  History  oj 
Lancaster  County,  p.  575. 


THE  LAW  27 

fifteen  years  he  devoted  himself  unremittingly 
to  his  profession,  and  gained  in  actual  practice 
that  knowledge  of  the  law,  which,  joined  with 
his  natural  qualities,  made  him  a  great  lawyer. 


CHAPTER  III 

ENTRANCE    INTO   PUBLIC   LIFE  —  FREE   SCHOOLS 

IT  was  from  necessity  that  Stevens  had  as  yet 
refrained  from  gratifying  his  natural  passion  for 
politics.  The  Federalist  party,  to  which  he  be 
longed,  had  disappeared,  and  there  was  no  party 
for  him  to  join  excepting  the  one  to  whose  prin 
ciples  he  was  opposed.  In  1827  he  was  on  the 
same  side  of  a  lawsuit  with  James  Buchanan, 
then  entering  upon  a  political  career  destined 
to  become  distinguished.  Buchanan  advised 
him  to  support  Jackson,  but  Stevens  did  not 
take  the  advice  seriously,  or  at  least  he  did 
not  follow  it.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  political 
principles  represented  by  Jackson,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  was  ready  to  unite  with  any  organiza 
tion  opposed  to  him  which  had  any  chance  of 
success.  With  the  exception  of  occasionally 
serving  upon  the  Gettysburg  town  council  he 
appears  to  have  taken  no  part  in  politics  in  the 
early  days  of  his  practice. 

Suddenly,  however,  a  new  issue  forced  itself 
upon  the  attention  of  the  country,  entirely  dis- 


ENTRANCE  INTO   PUBLIC   LIFE  29 

connected  with  previous  political  questions,  and 
which  promised  for  the  moment  to  overshadow 
all  other  issues.  The  abduction  and  probable 
murder  of  William  Morgan  by  members  of  the 
Masonic  order,  and  their  subsequent  trial,  pro 
duced  an  intense  feeling  of  indignation  in  many 
parts  of  the  Union,  and  quickly  forced  into  poli 
tics  the  question  of  the  wisdom  of  secret  socie 
ties,  and  particularly  of  the  Freemasons.  An 
anti-Masonic  party  at  once  appeared  in  New 
York,  which  mustered  33,000  votes,  and  at  the 
following  election  increased  its  membership  to 
70,000.  The  effect  of  the  Morgan  incident  was 
undoubtedly  exaggerated,  but  it  gave  alarm  to 
many  good  people.  *•  Stevens  instinctively  sym 
pathized  with  the  principles  of  the  new  party, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  Pennsylvania  to 
declare  his  adhesion  to  it.  The  broad  plane  of 
American  citizenship  was  none  too  broad  for  him. 
He  denounced  an  institution  whose  members,  he 
believed,  were  banded  together  by  an  oath  to  con 
trol  a  government  whose  blessings  they  shared, 
and  to  pervert  the  administration  of  justice  in 
their  own  favor.  He  declared  that  Masonry  was 
an  imperium  in  imperio,  and  that  republican  in 
stitutions  were  endangered  by  its  continuance. 
Largely  through  his  leadership  the  opposition  to 
the  Democratic  party  in  Pennsylvania  was  con 
solidated  under  the  name  of  the  anti-Masonic 


30  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

party,  and  it  made  an  energetic  but  unsuccessful 
campaign  in  1829,  having  Joseph  Kitner  as  its 
candidate  for  governor. 

For  a  time  this  issue  promised  to  furnish 
a  rallying  cry  for  a  great  national  party.  A 
national  convention  was  held  in  Baltimore  in 
September,  1831,  and  placed  William  Wirt  in 
nomination  for  the  presidency.  Stevens  was 
one  of  the  moving  spirits  of  the  convention,  and 
among  his  colleagues  were  men  no  less  conspicu 
ous  than  Abner  Phelps  and  Amasa  Walker  of 
Massachusetts,  and  William  H.  Seward  of  New 
York.  The  result  of  the  campaign  was  disas 
trous,  and  showed  the  futility  of  attempting  to 
construct  a  national  party  upon  this  single  idea. 
Wirt  received  the  electoral  vote  of  only  one 
State,  and  that  the  State  in  which  Stevens  was 
born.  The  truth  underlying  the  new  party  was 
too  narrow  and  too  self-evident.  Masonry  itself 
languished,  men  quitted  its  ranks  in  great  num 
bers,  and  many  of  its  lodges  were  closed.  But 
the  American  people  declined  to  divide  upon 
this  particular  question.  Parties  are  evolved 
upon  broader  and  more  complex  issues,  and 
anti-Masonry  stands  as  the  first  but  by  no 
means  the  last  illustration  in  our  history  of  at 
tempting  to  produce  a  great  political  party  to 
order  upon  a  single  question. 

Stevens,  however,  did  not  at  once  give  up 


ENTRANCE  INTO  PUBLIC  LIFE          31 

the  fight.  He  doubtless  perceived  that  the  idea 
was  not  without  some  elements  of  popularity,  as 
well  as  of  justice,  and  popularity  was  not  un 
grateful  to  him  while  he  was  in  search  of  a  per 
manent  party  with  which  he  could  ally  himself. 
The  party  of  Jackson  was  then  of  overshadow 
ing  importance;  the  Whig  party  was  just  com 
ing  into  being,  and  he  was  very  willing  to 
strengthen  this  nascent  organization  by  what 
ever  elements  of  attraction  remained  in  anti- 
Masonry. 

In  1833  Stevens  took  his  seat  as  a  member 
of  the  Pennsylvania  House  of  Representatives 
from  Adams  County.  He  had  reached  the  ma 
ture  age  of  forty-one  years  without  having  borne 
any  part  in  parliamentary  affairs.  But  for  fif 
teen  years  he  had  closely  followed  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  and  had  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  law  as  well  as  a  readiness  and 
self-possession  from  the  constant  trial  of  causes 
which  gave  him  an  admirable  training  for  his 
new  work.  He  very  quickly  took  rank  among 
the  leading  members  of  his  party  by  his  trench 
ant  and  vigorous  attacks  upon  Jackson  and  his 
supporters.  Very  early  in  the  session  he  intro 
duced  a  resolution  aimed  at  Masonry.  It  pro 
vided  that  an  inquiry  be  made  into  the  expe 
diency  of  a  law  making  Freemasonry  a  good 
cause  of  peremptory  challenge  in  all  cases  where 


32  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

one  of  the  parties  was,  and  the  other  was  not,  a 
Mason ;  also  in  criminal  cases  in  which  the  de 
fendant  was  a  Mason ;  and  providing  finally  that 
a  judge  who  was  a  member  of  the  order  should 
be  disqualified  from  trying  a  case  in  which  one 
of  the  parties  was  also  a  member.  This  resolu 
tion  was  defeated,  but  by  a  majority  of  only 
eleven  votes. 

On  March  27,  1834,  as  the  chairman  of  a 
committee  appointed  to  investigate  Masonry,  he 
submitted  a  report  which  was  a  caustic  attack 
upon  the  House  itself  for  refusing  to  sanction 
the  summoning  of  witnesses,  and  upon  the  Dem 
ocratic  governor  and  other  Masons  who  held 
office.  It  could  hardly  be  called  a  judicial  doc 
ument,  but  was  an  apt  attempt  at  "playing 
politics." 

"It  was,"  says  this  report,  "intended  that  the 
governor  of  this  Commonwealth  should  become 
a  witness,  and  have  a  full  opportunity  of  ex 
plaining,  under  oath,  the  principles  and  prac 
tices  of  the  order  of  which  he  is  so  conspicuous 
a  member.  It  was  thought  that  the  papers  in 
his  possession  might  throw  much  light  on  the 
question  how  far  Masonry  secures  political  and 
executive  favor.  This  inspection  would  have 
shown  whether  it  be  true  that  applications  for 
office  have  been  founded  on  Masonic  writ  and 
claimed  as  Masonic  rights;  whether  in  such 


ENTRANCE  INTO   PUBLIC   LIFE  33 

applications  the  '  significant  symbols  '  and  mys 
tic  watchwords  of  Masonry  have  been  used,  and 
in  how  many  cases  such  applications  have  been 
successful  in  securing  executive  patronage.  It 
might  not  have  been  unprofitable  also  to  inquire 
how  many  converted  felons,  who  have  been  par 
doned  by  the  recent  governor,  were  brethren  of 
the  'mystic  tie.'  The  committee  might  have 
deemed  it  necessary,  in  the  faithful  discharge 
of  their  duty,  to  have  called  before  them  some  of 
the  judges,  who  are  Masons,  to  ascertain  whether, 
in  their  official  characters,  the  'grand  hailing 
sign '  has  ever  been  handed,  sent,  or  thrown  to 
them  by  either  of  the  parties  litigant,  and  if  so, 
what  has  been  the  result  of  the  trial." 

During  the  same  session  Stevens  secured,  in 
the  face  of  a  determined  opposition,  the  pas 
sage  of  a  bill  making  a  liberal  appropriation 
for  Pennsylvania  College  at  Gettysburg.  His 
speech  does  not  appear  to  have  survived,  but  the 
editor  of  the  "Harrisburg  Telegraph"  declared 
at  the  time  that  it  "was  one  never  excelled,  if 
ever  equaled  in  the  hall."1  In  grateful  recog 
nition  of  this  event  and  of  his  other  services  in 
the  cause  of  education,  one  of  the  finest  build 
ings  of  the  college  was  given  the  name  of  Stevens 
Hall. 

Stevens  was  reflected  to   the   legislature  in 

1  See  Pennsylvania  School  Journal,  February,  1891. 


34  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

1834,  and  renewed  the  attack  upon  Masonry  by 
offering  a  bill  to  suppress  it,  but  his  party  was 
in  a  minority,  and  his  bill  was  defeated  by 
twenty  votes.  It  was  during  this  session  that 
Stevens  rendered  his  great  service  to  the  public 
school  system,  and  against  great  odds  achieved 
a  victory  which  he  regarded,  even  after  he  had 
won  his  wide  Jame,  as  the  greatest  achievement 
j&f  his  life.  /  For  many  years  the  system  had 
I  prevailed  in  ^Pennsylvania  of  furnishing  public 
/  education,  as  of  providing  public  subsistence, 
I  only  to  self-confessed  paupers.  In  order  to  get 
his  children  educated  at  the  public  expense,  it 
was  necessary  for  the  father  or  guardian  to 
make  it  appear  that  he  was  not  able  to  furnish 
them  the  means  of  education,  and  in  such  a 
case  instruction  would  be  doled  out  as  bread  or 
meat  would  be  doled  out  if  he  were  unable  to 
buy  food.  The  system  was  substantially  that 
illustrated  by  the  Friends'  Public  School,  estab 
lished  in  1697,  —  a  system  for  the  education 
of  "the  rich  at  reasonable  rates,  the  poor  to  be 
maintained  and  schooled  for  nothing."  During 
the  colonial  times  the  church  and  local  schools 
were  generally  conducted  upon  this  principle.1 
The  establishment  of  free  institutions  gave  birth 
to  notions  of  equality  which  made  it  impossible 
to  continue  a  system  under  which  a  distinction 

1  Wickersham,  History  of  Education  in  Pennsylvania,  p.  294. 


FREE   SCHOOLS  35 

was  maintained  in  the  public  schools  between 
the  children  who  paid  and  those  who  were  re 
garded  as  public  charges.  "The  class  distinc 
tions,"  says  Wickersham,  "that  had  been  broken 
up  in  general  society,  could  not  be  preserved  in 
the  school."  Eather  than  permit  poor  children 
to  be  educated  under  conditions  so  fatal  to  their 
self-respect,  their  parents  kept  them  at  home. 

The  system  was  first  cast  aside  in  Philadel 
phia,  which  provided  for  free  schools  at  the  pub 
lic  expense.  The  agitation  for  the  extension  of 
the  Philadelphia  plan  to  the  whole  State  finally 
bore  fruit  in  the  act  of  1834,  which,  with  many  s 
defects  in  details,  recognized  the  grand  princi 
ple  of  free  public  schools  for  all,  and  was  passed 
with  only  a  single  dissenting  vote.  But  like 
most  noble  things  this  principle  involved  some 
cost.  There  were  the  taxes,  and  there  is  no 
more  certain  method  of  stirring  up  the  public 
opinion  of  a  virtuous,  thrifty  and  frugal  people, 
such  as  then  inhabited  Pennsylvania,  than  by 
pricking  their  pocketbooks.  They  were  willing 
to  have  reform,  provided  it  did  not  come  high  or 
they  were  not  compelled  to  pay  for  it.  A  violent 
reaction  arose.  Nearly  half  the  districts  in  the 
State  rejected  the  act  or  contemptuously  ignored 
it.  They  were  ready  to  do  sweet  charity  and 
furnish  schooling  for  the  children  of  paupers, 
but  they  could  not  consent  to  a  system  which 


36  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

took  by  taxation  the  money  of  those  who  had  no 
children  and  devoted  it  to  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  well-to-do.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  good  Commonwealth,  through  all  her 
rich  valleys  and  across  her  noble  mountains,  was 
shaken  from  the  Delaware  to  the  Ohio,  and  a 
legislature  of  stern  Spartans  was  sent  to  Harris- 
burg  to  wipe  out  the  law. 

The  Senate  made  short  work  of  it.  That 
body  summarily  voted  to  repeal  the  essential 
parts  of  the  act  by  a  bill  which  bore  the  inspir 
ing  title,  "An  act  making  provision  for  the 
education  of  the  poor  gratis."  This  bill  passed 
the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  nearly  two  to  one,  and 
among  its  supporters  were  found  thirteen  sena 
tors  who  had  voted  for  free  schools  at  the  pre 
ceding;  session.1  It  then  went  to  the  House. 

O 

Many  members  of  the  preceding  legislature 
had  lost  their  seats  by  their  incautious  vote  for 
free  education,  and  had  given  place  to  its  pro 
nounced  opponents.  The  legislature  was  inun 
dated  by  petitions  for  repeal.  A  committee 
favorable  to  the  law  reported  that  the  number 
of  signers  was  "deplorably  large,"  and  that 
32,000  had  petitioned  for  repeal,  while  only 
2500  remonstrated  against  it.  The  Democratic 
members  passed  a  vote  at  a  caucus,  requesting 
the  Democratic  governor,  who  was  a  friend  of 

1  Wickersham,  History  of  Education  in  Pennsylvania,  p.  237. 


FREE   SCHOOLS  37 

the  law,  not  to  oppose  its  repeal,  since  a  veto  of 
the  bill,  which  seemed  sure  to  pass,  would  defeat 
him  for  reelection.1  During  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  the  time  while  this  tempest  was  raging, 
Stevens  was  absent  from  Harrisburg.  Upon  his 
return,  his  colleague  from  Adams  County,  who 
was  a  warm  friend  of  the  law,  informed  him 
that  the  bill  repealing  the  act  had  passed  the 
Senate  with  only  eight  dissenting  votes;  that 
the  test  vote  of  reference  in  the  House  showed 
a  majority  of  thirty  in  its  favor,  and  that  the 
friends  of  the  law  had  consulted  together  and 
decided  that  it  was  useless  to  oppose  the  repeal. 
He  also  advised  him  that  they  were  bound  to 
vote  for  the  repeal,  as  three  quarters  of  their 
constituents  had  petitioned  for  it.2 

The  situation  was  desperate,  and  the  cause 
of  the  law  seemed  lost.  The  Senate  bill  to  re 
peal  came  up  in  the  House  on  April  10  and  11, 
1835.  Up  to  that  hour  the  popular  excitement, 
which  is  so  often  the  precursor  of  an  opposite 
ultimate  popular  opinion,  had  gone  on  unchecked 
and  carried  everything  before  it.  One  obstacle, 
however,  stood  in  the  path  of  repeal.  There 
was  one  representative  who  would  no  more 
pander  to  a  popular  passion,  of  which  he  be 
lieved  the  people  would  repent  as  soon  as  their 

1  Bates,  Martial  Deeds  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  983. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  984. 


38  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

eyes  were  opened,  than  lie  would  pander  to  a 
mob.  The  people  might  reject  him,  but  so  long 
as  he  was  their  representative  he  would  follow 
his  convictions  of  duty.  He  braved  the  storm 
when  it  was  at  its  fiercest  pitch,  and  boldly 
moved  to  strike  out  all  the  Senate  bill  after  the 
enacting  clause,  and  to  substitute  for  it  a  bill 
strengthening  the  law  which  it  proposed  to  re 
peal.  Upon  that  motion  he  made  his  speech, 
which,  even  from  the  imperfect  reports,  must 
be  regarded  as  a  powerful  argument,  and  from 
the  uniform  accounts  of  those  who  heard  it  must 
rank  with  the  great  parliamentary  speeches. 
Certainly  it  produced  an  effect  second  to  no 
speech  ever  uttered  in  an  American  legislative 
assembly. 

The  hall  was  packed  to  suffocation.  Nearly 
the  entire  Senate  and  most  of  the  principal 
state  officers  were  present,  as  well  as  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House.  Stevens  was  in  the  prime 
of  manhood.  His  form  had  outgrown  the  slen- 
derness  of  youth,  and  it  was  not  bent  with  that 
heavy  weight  of  years  which  he  dragged  along 
when,  a  generation  later,  he  moved,  a  porten 
tous  figure,  across  the  stage  of  the  national 
House  of  Eepresentatives.  He  was  erect  and 
majestic.  He  may  not  indeed  have  had  the  ap 
pearance  of  "a  descended  god,"  as  one  of  his 
fellow  members  who  has  described  the  scene  has 


FREE  SCHOOLS  39 

portrayed  him,  but  we  can  well  believe  the 
accounts  of  the  wonderful  beauty  of  those  chis 
eled  features  which  never  lost  their  eagle  look 
even  to  his  dying  day.  It  is  fortunate  that  this 
early  portrait  of  him  survives  to  remind  us  that 
he  was  once  young,  and  to  enable  us  to  trace 
out  the  immortal  lineaments  of  his  beauty. 
Otherwise  he  would  have  wandered  forever 
through  history  as  the  broken  old  man  of  more 
than  threescore  and  ten,  such  as  he  was  at  the 
hour  of  his  great  fame  and  when  the  world  first 
knew  him. 

Many  references  to  the  speech,  by  those  who 
heard  it,  have  been  preserved,  and  they  are  uni 
formly  of  the  most  flattering  character.  ~X-witt 
refer  -to  only  two  of  them.  The  venerable  Dr. 
George  Smith,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
legislature  of  1834,  wrote,  nearly  fifty  years 
later,  that  "the  House  was  electrified,"  and  the 
"school  system  was  saved  from  ignominious 
defeat."  The  Harrisburg  correspondent  of  the 
"American  Daily  Advertiser  "  of  Philadelphia 
attempted  to  preserve  the  occasion  by  a  report 
which  is  all  the  more  forcible  because  given  in 
the  unsensational  manner  of  that  day.  After 
crediting  Stevens  with  preventing  the  repeal  of 
the  law,  he  declared  that  "  the  speech  of  this  gen 
tleman  was  the  ablest  I  have  ever  heard."  He 
then  endeavored  to  furnish  a  synopsis  of  the 


40  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

speech,  but  he  threw  up  the  task  in  despair,  and 
confessed  that  he  was  "unable  to  give  even  an 
outline  of  this  most  masterly  production." 

I  know  it  is  easy  to  give  an  undue  effect  to 
contemporary  eulogy.  Before  the  days  of  ste 
nographers  almost  any  orator  could  be  great. 
Usually  no  printed  record  would  survive  for 
refutation,  and  it  would  only  be  necessary,  a 
generation  or  a  century  later,  for  some  writer 
of  fine  imaginative  powers  to  dwell  with  particu 
larity  upon  the  pose,  the  gesture,  the  eye,  the 
forefinger,  —  especially  the  forefinger,  —  the 
immaterial  detail  of  language  being  omitted, 
and  thus  a  possibly  empty  effort  might  be  sent 
down  to  posterity  as  a  great  oration. 

But  when  every  allowance  is  made  from  the 
reports  of  the  affair  which  have  been  handed 
down,  the  effect  in  this  instance  proved  the  work 
ing  of  a  prodigious  cause.  The  House  immedi 
ately  voted,  when  Stevens  sat  down ;  the  victory 
so  confidently  anticipated  by  the  friends  of  repeal 
was  suddenly  turned  into  defeat,  and  the  motion 
of  Stevens  was  carried  by  a  nearly  two-thirds 
vote.  Most  remarkable  of  all,  the  Senate, 
which  but  a  short  time  before  had  so  decisively 
voted  for  repeal,  returned  to  its  chamber,  thrilled 
and  delighted  with  the  great  effort,  converted 
as  no  Senate  had  ever  been  converted  before, 
and  immediately  concurred,  with  a  few  unim- 


FREE  SCHOOLS  41 

portant  amendments,  in  the  House  substitute 
bill. 

Governor  Wolf  was  a  loyal  friend  of  free 
schools.  Politically,  he  was  opposed  to  Stevens. 
But  he  immediately  sent  for  him  after  his  great 
and  unexpected  triumph  in  the  House,  and, 
throwing  his  arms  about  his  neck,  warmly 
thanked  him  for  the  great  service  he  had  "ren 
dered  to  our  common  humanity."1  Some  of 
the  enthusiastic  friends  of  the  system  he  had 
saved  had  portions  of  the  speech  beautifully 
printed  on  silk,  and  presented  it  to  Stevens. 

Although  the  speech  itself  was  only  imperfectly 
reported,  enough  remains  to  show  its  wonderful 
vigor  and  its  condensed  and  weighty  style.  In 
denouncing  the  former  law,  which  afforded  edu 
cation  at  the  public  expense  for  those  alone  who 
acknowledged  that  they  were  too  poor  to  educate 
themselves,  he  said :  "Hereditary  distinctions  of 
rank  are  sufficiently  odious ;  but  that  which  is 
founded  upon  poverty  is  infinitely  more  so. 
Such  a  law  should  be  entitled  '  An  Act  for 
Branding  and  Marking  the  Poor. ' ' 

He  had  said  many  sharp  and  bitter  things 
about  Governor  Wolf,  who  was  a  Democrat, 
but  that  official  was  a  friend  of  the  system  which 
Stevens  was  advocating,  and  he  was  defended  in 

1  Colonel  J.  W.  Forney  in  Washington  Chronicle.'  See  the 
Pennsylvania  School  Journal,  vol.  xxxix.  p.  331. 


42  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

one  of  the  most  effective  passages  of  the  speech. 
("I  have  seen  the  present  chief  magistrate  of 
this  Commonwealth  violently  assailed  as  the 
projector  and  father  of  this  law.  I  am  not  the 
eulogist  of  that  gentleman;  he  has  been  guilty 
of  many  deep  political  sins.  But  he  deserves 
the  undying  gratitude  of  the  people  for  the 
steady,  untiring  zeal  which  he  has  manifested 
in  favor  of  common  schools.  I  will  not  say  that 
his  exertions  in  that  cause  have  covered  all,  but 
they  have  atoned  for  many  of  his  errors.  I 
trust  that  the  people  of  this  State  will  never  be 
called  upon  to  choose  between  a  supporter  and 
opposer  of  free  schools.  But  if  it  should  come 
to  that  —  if  that  should  be  made  the  turning- 
point  on  which  we  are  to  cast  our  suffrages  — 
if  the  opponent  of  education  were  my  most  inti 
mate  personal  and  political  friend,  and  the  free- 
school  candidate  my  most  obnoxious  enemy,  I 
should  deem  it  my  duty  as  a  patriot,  at  this 
moment  of  our  intellectual  crisis,  to  forget  all 
other  considerations,  and  I  should  place  myself 
unhesitatingly  and  cordially  in  the  ranks  of  him 
whose  banner  streams  in  light." 

He  very  ingeniously  answered  the  argument 
that  those  who  had  no  children  and  paid  the 
tax  received  no  benefit  from  it.  It  was  directly 
for  their  benefit,  "inasmuch  as  it  perpetuates 
the  government  and  insures  the  due  administra- 


FREE   SCHOOLS  43 

tion  of  the  laws  under  which  they  live,  and  by 
which  their  lives  and  property  are  protected." 
The  industrious  and  wealthy  farmer  paid  a 
heavy  tax  to  support  criminal  courts  and  jails, 
but  "he  never  gets  the  worth  of  his  money,  by 
being  tried  for  a  crime  before  the  court,  al 
lowed  the  privilege  of  a  jail  on  conviction,  or 
receiving  an  equivalent  from  the  sheriff  or  his 
hangmen  officers.  He  cheerfully  pays  the  tax 
which  is  necessary  to  support  and  punish  con 
victs,  but  loudly  complains  of  that  which  goes 
to  prevent  his  fellow  being  from  becoming  a 
criminal,  and  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  those 
humiliating  institutions. ^y 

He  regretted  that  any  member  should  have 
consented  to  receive  an  election  upon  a  platform 
of  hostility  to  popular  education.  ^"If  honest 
ambition  were  his  object,  he  will  erelong  lament 
that  he  attempted  to  raise  his  monument  of 
glory  on  so  muddy  a  foundation.  *J  He  would 
admit  that  the  "war-club  and  battle-axe  of 
savage  ignorance  "  were  dangerous  to  a  public 
man  in  "  the  present  state  of  feeling  in  Pennsyl 
vania;"  but  he  urged  members  not  to  cherish 
"the  prejudice  and  errors  "  of  their  constituents, 
but  to  play  the  part  of  the  philanthropist  and 
the  hero,  even  "  if  it  be  true,  as  you  say,  that 
popular  vengeance  follows  close  upon  your  foot 
steps." 


44  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

He  pointed  out  a  glorious  pathway  for  Penn 
sylvania,  if  her  legislators  should  provide  the 
means  for  polishing  the (  "bright  intellectual 
gems  "  of  her  children,  and  should  learn  to  build 
her  monuments  not  "of  brass  or  marble,  but 
to  make  them  of  ever-living  mind."  Neither 
fame  nor  honor  could  "long  be  perpetuated  by 
mere  matter."  Of  that  Egypt  furnished  "mel 
ancholy  proof."  The  pyramids  which  she  had 
raised  to  her  monarchs  seemed  "as  durable  as 
the  everlasting  hills,  yet  the  deeds  and  the 
names  they  were  intended  to  perpetuate  are  no 
longer  known  on  earth.  .  .  .  Instead  of  doing 
deeds  worthy  to  be  recorded  in  history,  their 
very  names  are  unknown.  .  .  .  Who  would 
not  rather  do  one  living  deed  than  to  have  his 
ashes  forever  enshrined  in  ever-burnished  gold  ? 
Sir,  I  trust  that  when  we  come  to  act  on  this 
question  we  shall  take  lofty  ground  —  look  be 
yond  the  narrow  space  which  now  circumscribes 
our  vision  —  beyond  the  passing,  fleeting  point 
of  time  on  which  we  stand  —  and  so  cast  our 
votes  that  the  blessing  of  education  shall  be  con 
ferred  on  every  son  of  Pennsylvania  —  shall  be 
carried  home  to  the  poorest  child  of  the  poorest 
inhabitant  of  the  meanest  hut  of  your  moun 
tains." 

Speeches  have  sometimes  changed  the  action 
of  a  legislative  body  when  its  mind  had  been 


FREE  SCHOOLS  45 

apparently  made  up.  But  a  large  majority  of 
the  Pennsylvania  House  had  been  chosen  with 
reference  to  the  educational  issue  and  for  the 
purpose  of  repealing  that  portion  of  the  law 
which  made  schools  free.  The  speech  of  Stevens 
decisively  turned  them  from  that  purpose.  It  is 
doubtful  if  his  achievement  can  be  matched  in 
the  history  of  legislative  assemblies.  Certainly 
it  at  once  established  his  position  among  the 
very  ablest  men  in  Pennsylvania. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CONSTITUTIONAL     CONVENTION  —  THE     "BUCK 
SHOT   WAR  "  —  ELECTED    TO    CONGRESS 

THE  decisive  victory  upon  the  free-school 
question  was  acquiesced  in  by  all  parties,  and 
the  political  campaign  of  1835  was  waged  upon 
other  issues.  All  the  elements  of  opposition 
to  Jackson  were  at  last  combined  in  the  anti- 
Masonic  party,  which  again  nominated  Ritner 
as  its  candidate  for  governor.  The  attitude  of 
Jackson  towards  the  national  bank  had  alien 
ated  many  of  his  friends  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
that  institution  was  popular.  Eitner  was  elected, 
and  his  party  also  secured  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Stevens  was  again  chosen  to  membership  in 
that  body.  He  at  once  renewed  the  Masonic 
contest,  and  upon  his  motion  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  investigate  that  and  other  secret 
societies.  Wolf,  the  former  governor,  and  many 
other  prominent  Masons,  were  summoned,  but 
they  declined  to  testify.  The  House  refused  to 
commit  the  witnesses  for  contempt,  and  the  in 
vestigation  resulted  in  nothing. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION          47 

During  this  session  of  the  legislature  Stevens 
introduced  a  bill  to  confer  a  state  charter  upon 
the  United  States  Bank,  of  which  the  national 
charter  was  about  to  expire  by  limitation.  This 
action  occasioned  one  of  the  most  animated 
political  contests  of  the  session,  and  the  charter 
finally  passed  both  houses,  and  was  approved 
by  the  governor.  This  step  by  Pennsylvania 
was  met  by  hostile  legislation  in  the  States  con 
trolled  by  the  Democrats,  some  of  which  enacted 
laws  prohibiting  within  their  limits  any  branch 
of  the  Pennsylvania  United  States  Bank.  The 
new  institution  purchased  the  assets  of  the  de 
funct  United  States  Bank,  and  after  a  brief  and 
not  glorious  career,  it  suspended  payment  in  the 
panic  of  1837,  in  common  with  nearly  all  the 
banks  in  the  country. 

In  the  fall  of  1836,  Stevens  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  convention  which  had  been  or 
dered  by  popular  vote  to  consider  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  State.  The  conven 
tion  assembled  in  May,  1837,  and  included 
among  its  members  the  ablest  men  of  all  par 
ties.  A  majority  of  them,  however,  were  De 
mocratic  in  politics,  and  were  evidently  disposed 
to  recast  the  Constitution  upon  partisan  lines. 
This  disposition  was  combated  and  very  likely 
intensified  by  Stevens,  who  displayed  all  his 
natural  radicalism  in  his  treatment  of  the  pro- 


48  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

positions  of  which  he  disapproved.  He  doubt 
less  could  have  exercised  some  influence  in 
moulding  the  new  document,  but,  since  it  was 
to  be  disfigured  by  any  partisan  blemishes,  he 
evidently  preferred  to  retain  the  old  Constitu 
tion  with  all  its  outgrown  or  inadequate  provi 
sions. 

The  stormy  debates  of  this  assembly  fill  thir 
teen  large  volumes,  and  appear  to  be  more  ap 
propriate  for  a  partisan  legislature  than  a  body 
reforming  the  organic  law  of  a  great  State. 
Stevens  did  not  regularly  attend  the  sessions  of 
the  convention,  but  when  he  was  present  he 
contributed  his  full  share  of  personalities  to  the 
debates ;  he  rarely  lost  an  opportunity  to  take 
a  hand  in  a  personal  encounter,  and  his  ready 
and  often  bitter  wit  placed  him  easily  at  the 
head  in  contests  of  that  character.  He  gener 
ally  opposed  propositions  to  recognize  class  dis 
tinctions  or  to  discriminate  against  any  man  on 
account  of  his  color.  As  finally  adopted  by  the 
convention,  the  Constitution  limited  the  right  of 
suffrage  to  "white"  citizens.  Stevens  refused 
to  affix  his  name  to  a  document  containing  such 
a  race  discrimination,  and  although  delegates  of 
all  parties  finally  signed  it,  his  name  is  conspic 
uous  by  its  absence. 

At  about  this  time  Stevens  also  attended  a 
convention  at  Harrisburg,  the  members  of  which 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION         49 

styled  themselves  the  "friends  of  the  integrity 
of  the  Union."  The  convention  was  called  by 
the  supporters  of  slavery,  who  proposed  to  pre 
serve  the  Union  by  repressing  the  agitation  in 
favor  of  freedom.  In  some  way  Stevens  se 
cured  a  seat  in  the  body,  but  he  was  evidently 
present  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  move 
ment  ridiculous,  and  his  efforts  in  that  direc 
tion  were  crowned  with  complete  success.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  better  illustration  of 
his  self-command  in  a  deliberative  body.  He 
held  those  views  upon  slavery  which  the  conven 
tion  was  called  to  denounce,  and  yet  he  soon  made 
himself  the  central  figure  of  the  proceedings,  and 
by  points  of  order,  by  objections  to  the  form 
of  resolutions,  by  his  eloquence  and  unsparing 
sarcasm,  the  leaders  of  the  movement  were  soon 
thrown  into  dismay,  and  were  glad  to  propose  a 
final  adjournment.  It  was  equally  impossible 
either  to  answer  or  to  suppress  him.  The  cur 
rent  newspaper  report,  which  preserves  a  con 
densed  statement  of  the  proceedings,  explains 
in  a  parenthesis  that  "so  electric  was  the  effect 
of  Mr.  Stevens 's  sallies  here  that  no  reporter 
can  touch  their  magic  or  picture  their  effect  on 
the  hearers,  who  frequently  renewed  their  ap 
plause  a  second  time  after  the  first  burst  had 
subsided."  The  following  will  afford  an  exam 
ple  of  these  "sallies."  In  one  of  the  discussions 


50  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

Stevens  so  completely  demonstrated  the  absurd 
ity  of  a  proposed  resolution  that  one  of  the 
members  declared  that,  while  he  abhorred  aboli 
tionism,  he  could  never  indorse  such  a  doctrine. 
This  aroused  a  clergyman,  who  was  apparently 
the  leading  spirit  in  the  movement,  and  he  took 
the  floor  to  ask  how  a  man  with  any  sense  of 
honor,  "  knowing  himself  to  hold  the  abominable 
doctrines  of  the  abolitionists,  can  come  here  in 
sheep's  clothing  and  sit  among  the  friends  of 
the  Union,  while  in  his  heart  he  is  wishing  to 
throw  his  firebrands  to  consume  it."  Stevens 
thereupon  rebuked  the  clergyman  for  becoming 
personal.  "I  meant  no  person  in  particular," 
was  the  reply.  "Indeed,"  said  Stevens,  "I  cer 
tainly  understood  the  gentleman  to  more  than 
insinuate  that  my  friend  yonder,"  pointing  to 
his  new  recruit,  whose  hair  was  a  bright  red, 
"looked  very  much  like  a  firebrand." 

Stevens  served  in  the  legislature  of  1838,  and 
made  a  notable  speech  in  favor  of  endowing  the 
colleges  and  higher  institutions  of  learning  in 
the  State.  This  speech  lacks  the  fierce  energy 
of  his  free-school  speech,  but  was  more  carefully 
prepared. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Ritner  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Commis 
sioners,  which  had  charge  of  the  expenditures 
of  large  sums  of  money  in  internal  improvements, 


THE   BUCKSHOT  WAR  51 

and  during  the  heated  political  campaign  of  that 
year  he  was  charged  with  not  being  unmindful 
of  the  interests  of  the  Whig  party  in  disbursing 
the  money.  The  campaign  was  a  most  exciting 
one,  and,  as  a  result,  Eitner,  the  Whig  candi 
date  for  reelection  as  governor,  was  defeated  by 
a  slender  majority.  Stevens  was  again  chosen  a 
member  of  the  House.  Both  parties  claimed 
the  legislature.  There  were  two  returns  from 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  one  made  by  the  De 
mocratic  members  of  the  returning  board  who 
constituted  a  majority,  and  the  other  by  the 
Whig  members.  The  former  return  declared 
the  Democrats  to  have  been  elected,  and  the 
latter  declared  in  favor  of  the  Whigs.  There 
was  a  sufficient  number  of  seats  involved  in  the 
controversy  to  determine  which  party  should  or 
ganize  the  legislature  and  elect  a  United  States 
senator. 

The  secretary  of  state  recognized  the  return 
made  by  the  Whigs,  and  in  doing  so  he  did  no 
violence  to  his  political  convictions,  as  he  was 
the  chairman  of  the  Whig  campaign  committee. 
He  also  indulged  in  a  remarkable  proclamation 
announcing  that  the  election  of  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  governor  would  be  treated  as  a 
nullity  until  an  investigation  could  be  held. 
The  legislature  assembled  in  the  most  excited 
frame  of  mind,  and  two  hostile  bodies  of  men, 


52  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

sitting  in  the  same  hall,  proceeded  at  the  same 
time  to  elect  a  speaker,  Stevens  was  the  leader 
of  the  Whigs,  and  nominated  his  candidate,  ap 
pointed  tellers,  and  declared  him  triumphantly 
elected.  In  a  somewhat  similar  fashion  the 
Democrats  elected  their  candidate. 

The  state-house  was,  of  course,  thronged 
with  people  who  were  partisans  of  one  side  or 
the  other,  and  were  not  present  entirely  in  the 
interests  of  peace.  The  struggle,  as  is  not 
unusual  in  controversies  of  that  nature,  was 
attended  with  a  great  amount  of  noise,  but  no 
blood  was  spilled.  The  only  one  who  appears 
to  have  been  in  any  serious  danger  was  Stevens 
himself,  who  was  compelled  to  make  his  escape 
from  the  state-house  through  a  window.  The 
governor,  doubtless  with  the  approval  of  Ste 
vens,  if  not  at  his  instigation,  issued  a  procla 
mation  announcing  that  a  "lawless,  infuriated, 
armed  mob  "  had  assembled  in  the  city  for  the 
purpose  of  overawing  the  legislature,  and  he 
called  upon  the  civil  authorities  to  restore  order, 
and  upon  the  military  forces  to  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  render  assistance. 

Fearing  that  the  militia  might  be  called  out, 
the  Democrats  made  a  demonstration,  although 
an  ineffective  one,  against  the  state  arsenal. 
Some  men,  claiming  to  represent  Stevens  and 
the  governor,  agreed  with  the  leaders  of  the 


THE  BUCKSHOT  WAR  53 

mob  that  no  arms  should  be  taken  from  the 
arsenal  for  the  use  of  the  state  forces.  Stevens 
thereupon  wrote  a  letter  to  a  newspaper,  declar 
ing  that  he  had  held  no  communication  with 
"the  rebels,"  —which  long  remained  with  him 
a  favorite  epithet,  — and  that  it  would  be  "dis 
graceful  to  treat  with  the  rebels  on  any  subject." 

It  would  scarcely  be  profitable  to  set  forth 
here  the  details  of  the  so-called  "buckshot  war," 
in  which  no  one  was  killed,  and  not  even  a  shot 
was  fired,  but  which  was  made  both  noisy  and 
ridiculous  by  proclamations,  by  calls  upon  the 
national  government  for  assistance,  and  by  acri 
monious  and  insulting  communications  from  the 
one  party  to  the  other.  A  contest,  of  which 
Stevens  directed  one  side,  could  not  be  an  inde 
cisive  one.  Victory  would  certainly  fall  to  one 
contestant  or  the  other.  There  would  be  no 
compromise.  In  this  case  victory  was  with  the 
Democrats.  They  retained  possession  of  the 
representatives'  chamber,  inaugurated  their 
governor,  and  the  Whig  representatives  either 
surrendered  by  taking  their  seats  in  the  Demo 
cratic  House,  or  went  home  and  abandoned  the 
contest.  Stevens  refused  to  submit,  and  re 
mained  absent  from  the  House  during  the  whole 
session. 

A  special  session  of  the  legislature  was 
called  the  following  spring.  There  could  be  no 


54  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

doubt  that,  as  a  legally  elected  member,  it  was 
Stevens 's  right  to  be  present.  To  make  his 
duty  still  more  clear,  and  probably  to  relieve 
him  from  the  appearance  of  a  surrender,  his 
constituents  passed  resolutions  requesting  him 
to  attend  this  session.  Stevens  replied  that  his 
opinion  of  the  legality  of  the  "Hopkins  House" 
remained  unshaken;  that  he  believed  it  to  be 
"a  usurping  body  forced  upon  the  State  by  a 
band  of  rebels,"  but  that  in  obedience  to  the 
wishes  of  his  constituents  he  would  attend  the 
House  at  the  adjourned  session  in  spite  of  his 
repugnance.  He  accordingly  was  present  when 
the  House  again  convened. 

But  his  part  had  been  too  conspicuous  in  the 
"buckshot  war,"  in  which  the  most  deadly  mis 
siles  had  been  set  in  motion  by  his  own  tongue. 
He  was  met  by  a  resolution  offered  by  Thomas 
B.  McElwee,  the  Democratic  leader,  calling 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  investi 
gate  whether  he  was  elected,  and  if  so,  whether 
he  had  forfeited  his  seat  by  "mal-conduct." 
Stevens  contemptuously  refused  to  appear  before 
this  committee,  and  replied  to  its  summons  by  a 
letter  which  conclusively  established  the  illegal 
ity  of  the  proceedings  and  his  absolute  right  of 
membership.  The  House  then  adopted  a  reso 
lution  by  a  party  vote,  declaring  the  seat  vacant, 
and  ordering  a  new  election.  Stevens  had  de- 


THE  BUCKSHOT  WAR  55 

termined  not  to  be  a  candidate  again  for  the 
legislature,  but  this  indefensible  proceeding  in 
duced  him  to  change  his  mind,  and  he  at  once 
issued  an  address  to  his  constituents  announcing 
that  he  would  accept  a  reelection  to  the  seat 
which  had  been  declared  vacant. 

It  was  evident,  however,  that  he  had  not 
changed  his  opinion  concerning  the  "Hopkins 
House."  His  address  set  forth  that  "a  major 
ity  of  that  body,  using  the  same  unconstitu 
tional  and  unlawful  means  which  invested  them 
with  official  authority,  refused  to  allow  me  to 
occupy  that  seat  to  which  I  have  been  called  by 
the  free  choice  of  my  fellow  citizens."  He  then 
denounced  them  as  "tyrants,"  who  had  deter 
mined  "to  oppress  and  plunder  the  people." 
There  was  much  more  to  the  same  effect.  The 
people  administered  a  fitting  rebuke  to  the 
"tyrants "  by  again  electing  Stevens.  This 
time  he  was  permitted  to  take  his  seat,  but  as 
the  legislature  adjourned  within  a  few  days, 
there  was  very  little  opportunity  for  him  to 
repay  his  persecutors.  He  had  not  long,  how 
ever,  to  wait  for  his  revenge.  The  legislature 
which  met  the  following  winter  gave  him  expia 
tion  by  expelling  McElwee,  the  Democratic 
leader,  who  was  responsible  for  the  expulsion 
of  Stevens.1 

1  Callendar,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Commoner,  p.  49.  t 


66  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Once  again,  in  1841,  Stevens  was  elected  to 
the  legislature,  and  rendered  most  useful  ser- 
vice.  The  speech  which  he  then  made  in  favor 
of  the  right  of  petition  produced  an  impression 
almost  as  profound  as  that  in  favor  of  free 
schools,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
country.  He  also  championed  a  resolution 
limiting  the  amount  of  the  state  debt,  which 
N/passed  the  House  by  a  large  majority;  also  his 
speech  against  a  bill  hostile  to  the  banks  was 
most  effective.  With  the  session  of  1842  his 
career  as  an  occupant  of  state  office  came  to  an 
end.  He  retired  from  that  service  with  the 
hatred  and  fear  of  the  opposition  party,  and 
with  the  admiration,  and  possibly  the  fear,  of 
his  own.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  had 
earned  both  these  extremes  of  opinion.  While 
an  intense  partisan,  the  influence  of  party  could 
not  restrain  him  when  he  differed  with  it,  as  he 
so  often  did.  He  had  won  an  acknowledged 
position  as  the  most  formidable  debater  and 
perhaps  the  greatest  orator  at  that  time  in 
public  life  in  Pennsylvania.  One  of  the  lead 
ing  organs  of  his  own  party,  the  "Harrisburg 
Telegraph,"  speaks  of  him  at  this  time  as  a 
"giant  among  his  pigmy  opponents,"  and  ac 
cords  him  "the  most  commanding  abilities." 

His  fame  had  extended  beyond  the  borders 
of   his  State.     He  took  a  conspicuous  part  in 


THE  BUCKSHOT  WAR  57 

support  of  Harrison  for  the  presidency  in  1840, 
and  it  was  believed  in  Pennsylvania  that  he  was 
to  have  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.1  The  position  he 
had  attained  in  his  party  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  two  years  before  his  final  retire 
ment  from  the  legislature,  the  friends  of  Har 
rison  thought  his  support  for  the  Whig  presi 
dential  nomination  of  great  value.  Colonel 
McClure,  who  is  high  authority  concerning 
Pennsylvania  politics,  makes  the  statement  that 
Harrison  sent  to  Stevens,  through  Mr.  Purdy, 
"an  autograph  letter,  voluntarily  proposing  that 
if  Harrison  should  be  nominated,  and  elected 
President,  Stevens  would  be  made  a  member  of 
the  cabinet."  McClure  adds  that  Stevens  was 
one  of  the  strongest  of  the  leaders  in  the  con 
vention,  and  that  "he  finally  controlled  the 
nomination  for  Harrison."2  Stevens  appeared 
content  to  rest  upon  Harrison's  promise,  and 
was  astonished,  when  the  cabinet  was  announced, 
to  find  that  it  had  been  forgotten  or  repudiated, 
and  that  his  name  did  not  appear  in  the  list. 

The  devotion  of  Stevens  to  politics  had  been 

1  "  That  Harrison  had  selected  him  for  postmaster  general 
is  known  with  certainty,  but  through  the  open  opposition  of 
Clay  and  the  wavering  of  Webster  the  appointment  was  given 
to  Mr.  Granger."     Harris,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster 
County,  p.  582. 

2  McClure,  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  p.  261. 


58  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

attended  with  the  neglect  of  his  private  affairs. 
Through  the  operations  of  a  partner  in  the  iron 
business  he  found  himself,  at  fifty  years  of  age, 
in  debt  to  the  amount  of  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  His  temporary  retirement 
from  politics  had  become  imperatively  necessary, 
and  to  secure  a  wider  field  for  his  professional 
practice  he  removed  from  Gettysburg  to  Lan 
caster.  Alexander  Hood,  who  was  a  law  stu 
dent  in  Stevens's  office,  and  for  many  years 
an  intimate  friend,  is  authority  for  the  state 
ment1  that  in  1843  his  debts  amounted  to 
$217,000.  It  is  certain  that  when  he  estab 
lished  himself  at  Lancaster,  he  was  in  deeper 
poverty  than  when,  a  penniless  young  man,  he 
began  his  practice  in  Gettysburg  a  quarter  of 
a  century  before.  But  he  had  a  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  and  a  public  man,  which  preceded 
him,  and  he  had  the  necessary  business  talent 
to  straighten  out  the  tangled  affairs  of  his 
iron  business,  and,  to  some  extent,  to  retrieve 
his  disaster.  In  six  years,  according  to  Hood, 
he  succeeded  in  reducing  his  indebtedness  to 
$30,000. 

He  began  practice  at  Lancaster  in  1842. 
The  bar  of  that  county  numbered  among  its 
members  some  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  Although  already  well  known  on  account 

1  Harris,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County. 


ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS  59 

of  his  prominence  in  politics  and  his  standing  as 
a  lawyer,  he  was  again  compelled  to  produce  his 
passports,  and  to  prove  by  actual  contest  his 
right  to  preeminence.  The  test  came  soon.  He 
was  retained  in  an  important  civil  suit  against 
Benjamin  Champneys,  the  acknowledged  leader 
of  the  bar.  Stevens's  mastery  of  his  case  and 
his  method  of  presenting  it  so  clearly  estab 
lished  his  superiority  that  he  at  once  stepped 
into  a  position  of  acknowledged  leadership,  a 
position  which  he  held  unchallenged  at  the  Lan 
caster  bar  until  the  day  of  his  death.  The 
rapid  growth  of  his  practice  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  at  the  first  session  of  the 
Supreme  Court  held  in  Harrisburg,  after  he 
settled  in  Lancaster,  he  was  counsel  in  four  of 
the  six  cases  which  came  up  from  his  county. 
In  the  next  year  he  appeared  in  six  of  the  eight 
cases,  in  addition  to  pleading  cases  from  other 
counties.  His  practice  brought  him  an  income 
of  from  $12,000  to  815,000  a  year,  which  may 
be  esteemed  an  extraordinary  amount  when  the 
time  and  the  location  are  considered.1 

His  success  was  attested  by  the  imitation 
with  which  he  was  flattered  by  his  fellow  mem 
bers.  When  he  came  to  the  Lancaster  bar  its 
advocates  were  in  the  habit  of  making  inter 
minable  addresses  to  the  court  and  jury,  but 

1  Harris,  Political  Conflict  in  America,  p.  87. 


60  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

Stevens  soon  cured  them  of  this  practice  by  the 
force  of  his  example.  His  speeches  were  con- 
densed,  brief,  and  terribly  to  the  point,  and 
they  were  usually  successful.  He  would  unerr 
ingly  detect  the  vital  question,  and  he  never 
wasted  his  time  upon  side  issues  or  trifles.  His 
example  was  soon  followed  by  his  professional 
brethren.  It  was  not  his  habit  to  take  notes,  but 
no  portion  of  the  evidence  escaped  his  marvelous 
memory,  and,  disregarding  the  chaff,  he  fixed  in 
the  minds  of  the  jurymen  that  which  was  im 
portant  to  his  side  of  the  case,  and  demolished 
with  his  ridicule  the  testimony  which  would 
tell  against  him.  While  he  had  the  choice  of 
causes  at  the  bar,  he  did  not  confine  himself 
to  those  which  paid  large  fees  ;  and  especially 
when  proceedings  were  had  for  the  return  of 
fugitive  slaves,  he  was  almost  always  found  con- 
tributing  his  services  to  the  defense  of  the  negro. 
His  speeches  in  the  fugitive  slave  cases  were 
the  most  eloquent  and  usually  the  most  success 
ful  that  he  ever  made  in  court.  The  evidence 
against  the  black  man  for  whom  he  spoke  had 
to  be  conclusive  beyond  all  controversy  what 
ever,  or  the  white  claimant  had  no  chance  to 
prevail. 

Stevens  did  not  establish  himself  so  quickly 
in  Lancaster  County  in  politics  as  he  did  in 
law.  He  was  a  Whig,  but  his  devotion  to  the 


ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS  61 

lost  cause  of  an ti -Masonry  had  offended  many 
influential  members  of  his  party  who  were  Ma 
sons,  while  his  radical  views  and  methods  of 
procedure  led  others  to  distrust  his  ability  to 
become  a  safe  leader.  The  "machine"  of  the 
Whig  party  in  Lancaster  offered  him  no  en 
couragement,  and  he  soon  recognized  the  fact 
that  he  must  fight  his  own  way  into  the  leader 
ship  or  remain  in  the  background.  He  at  once 
decided  to  fight ;  but  his  political  capital  was 
not  great.  He  attempted  to  revive  the  Masonic 
issue  in  the  election  of  1843,  with  the  purpose 
apparently  of  diverting  enough  Whig  votes  to 
give  the  election  to  the  Democrats  of  the  county, 
and  thus  to  prove  that  his  support  was  neces 
sary  to  the  Whig  party.  This  manoeuvre  ended 
in  a  disastrous  failure.  His  faction  polled  four 
teen  hundred  votes,  but  in  spite  of  this  division 
the  Whig  ticket  was  successful.  This  beginning 
was  most  unpromising ;  it  still  further  separated 
him  from  the  mass  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
more  closely  identified  him  with  an  extreme  and 
impotent  faction.  Not  only  was  he  not  con 
sulted,  but  his  opposition  soon  became  a  pass 
port  to  party  favor.  The  nomination  to  Con 
gress  in  1844  was  given  to  a  man  who  was  not 
only  conspicuously  hostile  to  the  Stevens  faction 
in  the  county,  but  who  in  the  state  legislature 
six  years  before,  at  the  time  of  the  "buckshot 


62  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

war,"  had  repudiated  Stevens 's  leadership,  and 
voted  to  recognize  the  "Hopkins  House." 

Having  failed  to  establish  himself  by  fight 
ing,  Stevens  concluded  to  try  the  effect  of  sulk 
ing,  and  the  latter  course  proved  the  more  ef 
fective.  A  situation  soon  arose  in  which  his 
services  were  needed.  Henry  Clay  was  nomi 
nated  for  the  presidency  in  1844,  and  it  was 
necessary  for  the  Whigs  to  put  forth  every 
effort  to  carry  Pennsylvania.  The  Whig  party 
was  so  strong  in  the  county  that  its  leaders 
could  afford  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  snub 
bing  Stevens  there,  but  in  the  State  he  was 
easily  the  ablest  man  of  his  party,  and  his  great 
influence  could  not  be  disregarded.  His  oppor 
tunity  had  come.  He  could  not  only  humiliate 
the  local  leaders,  but  he  could  pay  off  an  old 
grudge  which  he  had  cherished  toward  Clay  on 
account  of  his  failure  to  receive  a  cabinet  ap 
pointment  in  1841.  He  took  to  his  tent.  The 
leaders  were  compelled  to  capitulate,  and  Clay 
himself  sent  word  to  Stevens  that  in  the  event 
of  his  election  "atonement  should  be  made  for 
past  wrongs." 

Thereupon  Stevens  took  the  stump  and  made 
some  powerful  speeches  for  Clay.  The  most 
notable  occasion  on  which  he  appeared  was  in 
Philadelphia,  at  a  meeting  which  was  made  im 
mensely  large  by  reason  of  the  attraction  of 


ELECTED  TO   CONGRESS  63 

Mr.  Webster's  name.  The  crowd  was  too  great 
to  be  within  hearing  distance  of  the  central 
platform,  and  another  stand  was  erected  in  the 
outskirts,  from  which  Stevens  spoke.  Mr. 
Webster  spoke  too  often  and  was  too  great  an 
orator  to  be  uniformly  eloquent.  His  great  re 
sources  were,  for  the  most  part,  called  into  play 
only  on  great  occasions.  It  required  the  lash 
ings  of  the  tempest  to  stir  up  the  depths  of  his 
nature.  In  a  speech  in  an  ordinary  campaign, 
or  one  in  which  he  was  giving  to  a  rival  a  not 
very  cordial  and  almost  perfunctory  support, 
the  godlike  Daniel  in  his  latter  days  could  out- 
nod  Homer,  and  could  cause  his  hearers  to  nod 
also.  On  this  occasion  it  soon  became  evident 
from  the  applause  that  those  who  were  listening 
to  Stevens  were  having  a  better  time  than  those 
who  were  listening  to  Webster,  and  the  plat 
form  from  which  the  former  was  speaking  soon 
became  the  principal  one.  This  by  no  means 
indicated  that  Stevens  was  the  greater  orator, 
but  that  his  wit,  his  power  of  keen  argument, 
and  his  fund  of  good  stories  were  more  attractive 
to  the  crowd  than  was  the  profound  and  somno 
lent  argument  which  Webster  was  very  likely 
making  on  that  day. 

Clay  was  defeated  after  a  very  close  contest, 
and  the  aspirations  of  Stevens  for  a  seat  in 
the  cabinet  remained  then  and  ever  afterward 


64  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

unsatisfied.  He  sought  consolation  again  in 
/his  law  practice,  to  which  he  gave  his  undivided 
attention.  His  qualities  made  him  the  idol  of 
the  young  men,  and  a  place  as  a  student  in  his 
offices  was  greatly  coveted.  His  prestige  as  a 
lawyer,  as  well  as  his  good  nature,  may  be  in 
ferred  from  the  fact  that  he  had  as  many  as 
nine  law  students  in  his  office  at  one  time.1 
His  contact  with  clients,  witnesses,  and  jurymen 
rapidly  widened  his  circle  of  acquaintances,  and 
by  attending  strictly  to  his  professional  work 
he  was  fast  acquiring  popularity  and  a  more 
solid  basis  of  political  strength  than  would  ever 
have  come  from  the  political  manoeuvring  in 
which  he  had  sometimes  indulged. 

A  half  century  ago,  in  a  large  and  self-cen 
tred  town,  such  as  Lancaster  was,  a  brilliant 
and  successful  lawyer  like  Stevens  would  almost 
certainly  become  the  popular  hero.  The  court 
room  was  a  common  resort  for  all  classes,  and 
in  the  court-room  in  Lancaster  County  Stevens 
had  reigned  supreme  ever  since  the  day  when 
he  had  shown  his  mettle  against  Benjamin 
Champneys.  When  the  time  came  for  the 
retirement  of  the  member  of  Congress  who 
then  represented  that  district,  Stevens  became 

1  Harris  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  a  greater  num 
ber  of  young  men  studied  law  with  Stevens  than  with  any  other 
lawyer  who  had  ever  practiced  at  that  bar. 


ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS  65 

the  natural  candidate.  He  still  had  the  hos 
tility  of  the  men  of  his  party  who  exercised  the 
potent  force  which  lay  in  the  party  machine. 
The  leading  party  newspapers  were  against 
him.  But  the  people  had  come  under  his  spell, 
and  in  spite  of  the  hostile  party  press  and 
"machine,"  he  was  nominated  as  the  Whig 
candidate  for  Congress  by  the  narrowest  of 
majorities.  He  showed  his  popularity  with  the 
voters  by  polling  9565  votes  against  5464  votes 
for  his  Democratic  antagonist. 


CHAPTER  V 

CONGKESS  —  ANTI-SLAVEKY   SPEECHES 

THE  31st  Congress  assembled  in  December, 
1849,  and  Stevens  for  the  first  time  took  his 
seat  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  He  had  almost  reached  the  age  of  fifty - 
eight  years,  and  therefore  began  his  career  in 
the  House  at  a  time  of  life  when  most  men 
leave  it,  or  have  acquired  from  long  service  a 
position  of  leadership.  It  is  undoubtedly  true 
that  an  entrance  into  that  body  at  an  earlier 
age  is  more  favorable  to  a  successful  career; 
but  much  depends  upon  previous  occupation. 
Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  the 
history  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are 
John  Quincy  Adams  and  Thaddeus  Stevens. 
Mr.  Adams  first  took  his  seat  there  when  more 
than  sixty  years  of  age.  Both  these  men, 
however,  had  already  had  an  experience  which 
thoroughly  equipped  them  for  their  work.  Mr. 
Adams  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Sen 
ate,  as  secretary  of  state,  as  president,  and  in 
other  important  posts.  Stevens  had  gained  an 


CONGRESS  67 

excellent  parliamentary  training  in  his  long  ser 
vice  in  the  Pennsylvania  legislature,  and  his 
practice  at  the  bar  had  fitted  him  for  the  per 
sonal  contests  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Both  men  were  thoroughly  equipped  upon  all 
political  questions,  and  they  were  also  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions.  They 
possessed  those  qualifications  which  a  long  ser 
vice  would  naturally  have  created,  and  thus 
their  late  appearance  in  the  House  really  placed 
them  at  no  disadvantage. 

The  House  at  that  time  presented  somewhat 
greater  opportunities  to  the  new  member  than  it 
does  to-day.  Its  membership  was  much  less  nu 
merous,  the  country  was  not  nearly  so  populous, 
the  amount  of  legislative  business  was  greatly 
less,  and  consequently  the  individual  member,  or 
measure,  stood  a  much  better  chance  of  recog 
nition.  The  evolution  of  the  rules  had  not 
reached  the  point  where,  in  order  to  secure  the 
rights  of  the  House  as  a  whole,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  suppress  to  so  great  an  extent  the  privi 
leges  of  the  individual  member. 

But  a  career  in  the  House  at  that  time,  as 
now,  was  far  from  offering  the  fullest  opportu 
nity  for  statesmanship.  The  obvious  difference 
between  the  American  government  and  other 
free  popular  governments,  of  which  the  English 
is  the  best  model,  is  that  in  the  American 


68  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

government  the  essential  powers  are  scattered 
among  several  departments,  while  in  the  English 
government  those  powers  are  practically  con 
centrated  in  a  single  body  and,  essentially,  in 
a  single  man;  for  so  long  as  he  can  maintain 
himself  in  the  Commons,  the  prime  minister  is 
the  ruler  of  England.  In  the  United  States  the 
President  and  his  advisers  can  hold  office  to  the 
end  of  the  presidential  term,  however  much  they 
may  differ  with  both  houses  of  Congress,  or 
even  with  the  people  as  they  may  express  them 
selves  at  the  midway  election  between  the  be 
ginning  and  the  end  of  the  term.  The  House 
of  Representatives,  the  only  direct  popular 
branch  of  the  government,  has  substantially  the 
function  of  legislation,  but  jointly  and  equally 
with  the  Senate,  and  subject  to  the  veto  power 
of  the  President,  which  it  requires  a  two -thirds 
vote  of  both  legislative  branches  to  overcome. 
The  dramatic  contests  which  mark  parliamen 
tary  history  elsewhere  are  of  course  not  witnessed 
with  us.  An  important  measure  may  fail  in 
the  House,  but  no  government  falls  in  conse 
quence;  it  may  pass  in  the  House  and  be  de 
feated  in  the  Senate,  or  it  may  pass  both  bodies 
to  meet  an  executive  veto;  but  none  the  less 
the  steady  routine  of  official  existence  will  con 
tinue  until  the  close  of  the  term  fixed  by  the 
Constitution.  This  condition  of  the  Constitu- 


CONGRESS  69 

tion  doubtless  conduces  to  conservatism  in  legis 
lation,  but  it  certainly  does  not  conduce  to  the 
development  of  the  individual  statesman.  An 
American  statesman  gets  his  power  in  install 
ments.  In  his  early  life  he  may  try  his  hand 
at  legislation  in  the  House ;  later  he  may  appear 
in  the  Senate,  and  in  addition  to  legislative 
work  of  practically  the  same  character,  he  may 
participate,  in  secret  session,  in  the  performance 
of  those  executive  functions,  chiefly  relating  to 
the  filling  of  offices,  which  the  Senate  possesses ; 
and  still  later  he  may  discharge  the  duties  of 
an  executive  officer  as  a  member  of  the  cabinet. 
In  the  course  of  a  long  official  career,  therefore, 
he  will  at  different  times  very  likely  perform 
substantially  the  same  duties  as  a  member  of 
the  British  government  performs  at  one  and  the 
same  time. 

The  House  in  which  Stevens  took  his  seat 
contained  many  men  who  were  then  well  known,  < 
or  who  afterwards  became  famous.  In  the  dele 
gations  from  the  New  England  States  were  El- 
bridge  Gerry  of  Maine,  Harry  Hibbard  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  Charles  Allen,  George  Ash- 
mun,  Horace  Mann,  and  Robert  C.  Winthrop, 
of  Massachusetts.  Among  the  colleagues  of 
Stevens  from  Pennsylvania  was  David  Wilmot, 
the  author  of  the  famous  proviso.  Preston  King 
came  from  New  York;  Georgia  sent  Ho  well 


70  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Cobb,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  and  Robert 
Toombs.  Ohio  had  among  her  members  Joshua 
R.  Giddings  and  Robert  C.  Schenck;  while 
among  the  Tennessee  representatives  were  Isham 
G.  Harris,  who  was  then  entering  upon  an  offi 
cial  career  destined  to  last  for  nearly  half  a 
century,  and  Andrew  Johnson,  to  whose  im 
mortality  Stevens  contributed  so  greatly  in  the 
impeachment  proceedings.  The  Whigs  and 
Democrats  were  almost  equal  in  number,  and 
neither  party  was  able  to  control  the  House. 
The  Free-soilers  and  the  radical  Whigs  held  the 
balance  of  power. 

While  the  devoted  band  of  Free-soilers  and  the 
extreme  Whig  members,  who  soon  ranged  them 
selves  behind  Stevens  as  their  natural  leader, 
were  too  insignificant  in  number  to  elect  the 
speaker,  they  were  yet  sufficiently  strong  to 
prevent  either  of  the  great  parties  from  securing 
^a  majority.  The  Whig  candidate  was  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  who  had  been  speaker  of  the  preced 
ing  House,  and  was  perhaps  the  most  polished 
orator  in  that  body.  The  Democratic  candidate 
was  Howell  Cobb,  an  able  man,  but  of  a  radi 
cally  different  political  school.  For  three  weeks 
the  House  fruitlessly  balloted  for  the  candi 
dates.  The  contest  was  exciting  and  protracted 
beyond  anything  then  known  in  the  history  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Although  the 


CONGRESS  71 

members  had  not  been  sworn  in,  and  the  only 
business  in  order  was  to  elect  a  speaker,  or  to 
adjourn  from  day  to  day,  the  roll-call  was  re 
peatedly  interrupted  by  threatening  and  inflam 
matory  speeches. 

Stevens  soon  appeared  as  a  candidate,  and 
the  vote  for  him  included  all  the  Free-soil  mem 
bers  and  an  equal  number  of  the  Whigs.  This 
support  was  most  respectable  in  character,  and 
it  was  no  mean  tribute  to  him  that  he  should 
receive  it  upon  his  first  appearance  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  It  was  impossible  for  any 
candidate  to  obtain  a  majority.  At  length,  by 
general  agreement,  it  was  decided  that  a  plu 
rality  should  elect,  as  the  only  solution  of  the 
difficulty.  The  choice  fell  to  Cobb,  who  was 
only  three  votes  ahead  of  Winthrop,  but  lacked 
ten  votes  of  a  majority. 

The  Free-soil  members  agreed  with  Win 
throp  upon  many  political  questions.  They 
disagreed  with  Cobb  upon  nearly  all.  It  was 
in  their  power  to  determine  which  should  be 
the  speaker.  But  it  illustrates  the  intensity  of 
the  division,  which  then  first  appeared  in  the 
Whig  party,  and  finally  led  to  its  dissolution, 
that  its  extreme  members  preferred  an  uncom 
promising  enemy  to  a  moderate  friend.  Their 
object,  however,  lay  farther  in  the  future  than 
the  election  of  the  speaker  of  that  House.  They 


72  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

aimed  to  force  their  party  to  take  a  more  ag 
gressive  stand  against  slavery,  or,  failing  in 
that,  to  disrupt  it  entirely,  and  organize  a  new 
party  upon  its  ruins. 

The  slave  question  had  reached  a  most  acute 
stage,  and  overshadowed  all  other  questions. 
Perhaps  no  Congress  had  met  since  the  forma 
tion  of  the  Constitution  under  such  great 
excitement  upon  any  domestic  issue.  The 
Mexican  war  had  just  been  carried  to  a  success 
ful  conclusion.  Its  principal  result  was  the  ac 
quisition  of  a  vast  tract  of  territory,  and,  since 
the  war  had  been  emphatically  a  Southern  war, 
the  Southern  leaders  fondly  hoped  that  the  new 
domain  would  be  carved  into  slave  States,  and 
thereby  add  to  the  strength  of  their  peculiar 
"institution."  Even  if  all  this  territory  were 
not  opened  to  slavery,  the  extension  of  the  line  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
would  greatly  augment  the  power  of  slavery. 

Fortune,  however,  favored  the  cause  of  free 
dom.  The  new  territory  had  scarcely  been 
ceded  to  the  Union  when  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California  set  in  motion  a  tide  of  immigra 
tion  which,  considering  its  volume,  the  energy 
of  its  motion,  the  distance  it  had  to  travel  and 
the  dangers  it  must  overcome,  may  fairly  be  said 
to  stand  alone  in  the  history  of  the  transmigra 
tions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  Thousands  of 


CONGRESS  73 

immigrants  twice  crossed  the  equator,  and 
reached  their  destination  over  fifteen  thousand 
miles  of  sea.  Others  took  the  shorter  but 
scarcely  less  hazardous  route  by  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  Those  who  went  overland  dared  the 
utmost  dangers  and  privations,  and  were  fortu 
nate  if  they  escaped  slaughter  at  the  hands  of 
the  savage. 

In  an  incredibly  short  time  California  had  a 
sufficient  population  to  form  a  State,  —  a  popu 
lation  that  was  liberty -loving,  hardy,  and  brave. 
They  were  not  the  men  to  tolerate  slavery.  The 
territory  itself,  wonderful  in  its  beauty,  in  its 
fertility,  in  its  climate,  and  its  wealth  of  re 
sources,  was  fashioned  to  be  the  home  of  free 
dom.  The  people  of  California  promptly 
adopted  a  free  constitution  and  asked  admission 
to  the  Union  as  a  free  State.  The  most  that 
Congress  could  do  was  to  refuse  admission. 
The  Democratic  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty 
would  not  admit  of  an  attempt  to  establish 
slavery  there  by  national  law,  and,  even  if  the 
attempt  had  been  made,  it  would  have  been  the 
most  empty  possible  enactment,  and  one  which 
never  could  have  been  put  in  force. 

Nor  was  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  new 
territory  the  only  irritating  form  which  the 
slave  problem  assumed.  The  return  of  "per 
sons  held  to  service  or  labor,"  which  was  the 


74  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

euphemistic  term  by  which  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  avoided  the  use  of  the  word  "  slave  " 
in  that  instrument,  had  brought  the  wickedness 
of  the  "institution"  home  to  the  people  of  the 
free  States.  They  resented  the  apparent  com 
plicity  in  the  evil,  which  was  involved  in  their 
sending  slaves  back  to  bondage.  As  a  result 
the  laws  upon  the  subject  were  very  feebly  en 
forced.  The  people  of  the  South  believed  that 
the  Constitution  was  being  violated,  and  many 
of  their  leaders  threatened  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  unless  an  effective  law  were  enacted  and 
enforced  for  the  return  of  runaway  slaves.  The 
slave  problem,  therefore,  appeared  in  some  form 
or  other  in  all  the  questions  pressing  for  solu 
tion,  and  Stevens  at  the  very  threshold  of  his 
national  career  was  compelled  to  deal  with  the 
question  which  had  more  intensely  interested 
him  than  any  other. 

The  situation  demanded  the  statesmanship  of 
Mr.  Clay,  who  has  had  no  superior  in  our  his 
tory  in  ability  to  adjust,  at  least  temporarily, 
dangerous  complications,  and  it  was  not  an  un 
fortunate  circumstance  that  with  this  Congress 
he  again  entered  the  Senate,  from  which  he  had 
retired.  He  was  profoundly  impressed  with 
the  gravity  of  the  crisis,  and  sincerely  and  pa 
triotically  desired  to  avert  the  perils  with  which 
it  was  fraught.  He  introduced  a  series  of  reso- 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  75 

lutions  covering  the  whole  field,  the  important 
features  of  which  wrere  the  admission  of  Cali 
fornia  as  a  free  State,  more  effectual  provisions 
for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  territorial  gov 
ernments  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah  without 
any  provision  upon  the  question  of  slavery, 
payment  of  the  debt  of  Texas,  and  the  adjust 
ment  of  her  boundary,  and  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Naturally  enough  this  programme  encoun 
tered  hostility  upon  both  sides.  The  provisions 
for  the  return  of  slaves  and  the  establishment 
of  the  territorial  governments  without  a  prohi 
bition  of  slavery  were  especially  distasteful  to 
the  Whigs.  The  admission  of  ^California  as  a 
free  State  was  equally  distasteful  to  the  Demo 
crats.  It  is  true  that  in  all  compromises  be 
tween  two  parties  something  must  be  conceded 
upon  both  sides,  but  the  extreme  Whigs,  of 
whom  Stevens  was  the  leader,  were  determined  ^N 
in  this  business  not  to  yield  anything. 

He  did  not  wait  for  the  proposed  compromise 
to  reach  the  House,  but  on  February  20,  1850, 
made  a  speech  in  which  he  violently  attacked 
the  proposition  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves, 
and  broadly  discussed  the  slavery  question. 
This  was  his  first  set  speech  in  Congress  upon 
the  subject,  and  he  proposed  to  speak  his  mind  ' 
frankly.  "We  can  say  anything,"  he  said, 


76  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

"within  these  walls  or  beyond  them  with  impu 
nity  unless  it  be  to  agitate  in  favor  of  human 
liberty  —  that  is  aggression."  While  he  an 
nounced  his  "unchangeable  hostility  "  to  slavery 
"in  every  form  and  in  every  place,"  he  declared 
that  he  felt  bound  by  the  Constitutional  provi 
sions.  Some  of  those  compromises  he  greatly 
disliked,  and  if  they  were  still  open  he  would 
never  consent  to  them,  but  he  was  precluded 
from  objecting.  It  was  a  matter  of  regret  that 
Congress  had  no  power  over  slavery  in  the 
States,  and  if  it  had,  he  would,  regardless  of 
all  threats,  support  "some  just,  safe,  and  cer 
tain  means  for  its  final  extinction."  He  then 
proceeded  to  discuss  the  wisdom  of  slavery  in 
a  style  which  it  is  impossible  to  condense  or 
abridge  without  injuring  the  argument. 

He  first  considered  the  question  "  in  the  low 
light  of  political  economy."  That  nation  is  the 
most  prosperous  which  has  the  most  industri 
ous  and  largest  producing  classes.  "Those  who 
merely  consume  the  fruits  of  the  earth  add  no 
thing  to  the  strength  or  the  wealth  of  a  nation." 
Slave  countries  cannot  have  a  large  number  of 
industrious  free  men.  "  When  the  lash  is  the 
only  stimulant  the  spirit  of  man  revolts  from 
labor."  Never  can  such  countries  have  a  body 
of  small  proprietors  of  the  soil.  The  poor  white 
laborers  are  the  scorn  of  the  slave  himself,  and 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  77 

are  ranked  with  him.  The  soil  occupied  by 
slavery,  he  declared,  is  much  less  productive 
than  a  similar  soil  occupied  by  free  men,  be 
cause  negligence  and  improvidence  follow  in  its 
train.  He  illustrated  his  argument  by  a  refer 
ence  to  Virginia. 

"She  has  a  delightful  climate;  a  soil  natu 
rally  fertile.  She  is  intersected,  as  was  well  said 
by  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Bayly], 
by  the  noblest  rivers.  Her  hills  and  moun 
tains  are  filled  with  rich  minerals  and  covered 
with  valuable  timber.  She  has  the  finest  water, 
I  believe,  in  the  nation,  in  the  very  heart  of  her 
State;  and  her  harbors  are  among  the  best  in 
the  world.  At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  she  was  the  most  powerful  State  — 
her  population  was  double  that  of  New  York. 
It  was  the  boast  of  her  statesmen  that  she  was 
'prima  inter  pares.'  What  is  she  now?  The 
population  of  New  York  is  more  than  double  — 
I  think  the  next  census  will  show  nearly  treble 
hers.  Her  land,  cultivated  by  unwilling  hands, 
is  unproductive.  Travel  through  the  adjoining 
States  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  and  you  will 
see  that  the  land  produces  more  than  double  as 
much  as  the  same  kind  of  land  in  Virginia.  In 
the  free  States  new  towns  are  everywhere  spring 
ing  up  and  thriving;  the  land  is  becoming  more 
productive ;  smiling  habitations  are  within  hail 


78  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

of  each  other ;  the  whole  country  is  dotted  with 
schoolhouses  and  churches  almost  within  si<rht 

O 

of  each  other;  and,  except  under  peculiar  cir 
cumstances,  their  manufactures  and  mechanic 
arts  are  furnishing  lucrative  employment  to  all 
their  people;  and  their  population  is  steadily 
and  rapidly  increasing.  Turn  again  to  Virginia. 
There  is  scarcely  a  new  town,  except  at  one  or 
two  points,  within  her  whole  borders.  Her 
ancient  villages  wear  the  appearance  of  mourn 
ful  decay.  Her  minerals  and  timber  are  un- 
wrought.  Her  noble  water-power  is  but  partially 
occupied.  Her  fine  harbors  are  without  ships, 
except  from  other  ports ;  and  her  seaport  towns 
are  without  commerce  and  falling  to  decay. 
Ask  yourself  the  cause,  sir,  and  I  will  abide 
the  answer." 

He  thought  it  was  vital  to  confine  slavery  to 
the  States  in  which  it  then  existed,  because  that 
course  would  bring  the  States  themselves  to  its 
gradual  abolition.  Permit  the  disease  to  spread, 
and  "  it  will  render  the  whole  body  leprous  and 
loathsome."  He  again  emphasized  his  cure  for 
slavery,  which  long  dwelt  in  the  memory  of 
Southern  statesmen.  "Surround  it  by  a  cordon 
of  freemen,  so  that  it  cannot  spread,  and  in  less 
than  twenty-five  years  every  slave-holding  State 
in  this  Union  will  have  on  its  statute  books  a  law 
for  the  gradual  and  final  extinction  of  slavery." 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  7.9 

This  speech  not  only  commanded  the  adnii- 
ration  of  his  friends  and  justified  the  votes  they 
had  given  him  for  speaker,  but  it  achieved  the 
success  of  drawing  upon  him  the  fire  of  the  op 
position.  It  had  strength  and  directness.  It 
clearly  expressed  great  ideas,  which  were  not 
dressed  up  and  concealed  in  any  frippery  of 
labored  rhetoric.  His  trenchant  power  of  argu 
ment,  his  courage,  the  force  of  his  compact  elo 
quence  not  merely  established  his  position  in 
the  House,  but  they  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  country.  The  proceedings  of  the  House 
which  most  intensely  interested  Stevens  were 
those  relating  to  the  slavery  question.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and 
gave  much  of  his  time  to  the  work  of  a  tech 
nical  and  legal  character  which  came  before  that 
committee ;  but  his  heart  was  with  the  slave,  and 
his  most  elaborate  speeches  were  made  in  his 
behalf. 

When  the  California  question  came  before 
the  House,  he  seized  the  opportunity  to  state 
more  fully  his  position  with  regard  to  slavery 
in  the  territories  as  well  as  to  make  more  em 
phatic,  if  possible,  his  hostility  to  slavery  every 
where.  On  June  10,  1850,  he  delivered  another 
philippic,  which  was  even  more  forcible  and 
uncompromising  than  his  February  speech.  He 
declared  that  in  his  opinion,  so  far  as  the 


80  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

constitutional  power  to  admit  new  States  was 
concerned,  Congress  only  had  power  to  admit 
such  States  as  were  formed  out  of  territory  pre 
viously  belonging  to  the  nation.  He  again  ex 
pressed  his  unwillingness  to  violate  any  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution,  but  displayed  a 
good  deal  of  legal  ingenuity  in  the  manner  in 
which  he  construed  some  of  those  provisions. 
Aside  from  what  he  termed  "the  principle  of 
eternal  right,"  he  would  never  give  his  consent 
to  the  admission  of  another  slave  State,  unless 
bound  to  do  so  by  some  compact,  "on  account 
of  the  injustice  of  slave  representation."  He 
would  not  vote  to  give  five  slaves  and  their  mas 
ter  the  same  voting  power  as  four  white  men. 
From  the  eulogies  which  had  been  pronounced 
upon  slavery,  he  would  infer  that  the  institution 
was  a  blessing  politically  and  morally.  Compari 
sons  had  been  made  between  slaves  and  free 
working  men  much  to  the  advantage  of  the 
slave.  Instances  had  been  cited  "where  the 
slave,  after  having  tried  his  freedom,  had  volun 
tarily  returned  to  resume  his  yoke."  If  this 
were  true,  he  could  not  see  any  reason  for  be 
ing  apprehensive  as  to  the  future  of  slavery. 
Slaveholders  would  never  lack  bondsmen. 
"Their  slaves  would  remain,  and  many  free 
men  would  seek  admission  into  this  happy  con 
dition."  The  North  would  not  complain  if  they 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  81 

would  establish  in  the  South  "abolition  societies 
to  abolish  freedom." 

He  then  referred  to  some  of  the  glowing  pic 
tures  that  had  been  painted  of  slavery.  "If 
these  Southern  gentlemen  and  their  Northern 
sycophants  are  sincere  and  correct,  then  I  must 
admit  that  they  have  just  cause  of  complaint  — 
the  only  real  aggression  which  the  North  ever 
inflicted  on  them.  For  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  for  two  centuries  the  North  has  mainly 
contributed  to  secure  to  a  particular  race  the 
whole  advantages  of  this  blissful  condition  of 
slavery;  and,  at  the  same  time,  has  imposed 
upon  the  white  race  the  cares,  the  troubles,  the 
lean  anxieties  of  freedom.  This  is  a  monopoly 
inconsistent  with  republican  principles,  and 
should  be  corrected.  If  it  will  save  the  Union, 
let  these  gentlemen  introduce  a  '  compromise ' 
by  which  these  races  may  change  conditions;  by 
which  the  oppressed  master  may  slide  into  that 
happy  state  where  he  can  stretch  his  limbs  on 
the  sunny  ground  without  fear  of  deranging  his 
toilet;  when  he  will  have  no  care  for  to-mor 
row;  another  will  be  bound  to  find  him  meat 
and  drink,  food  and  raiment,  and  provide  for 
the  infirmities  and  helplessness  of  old  age.  Im 
pose,  if  you  please,  upon  the  other  race,  as  a 
compensation  for  their  former  blessings,  all 
those  cares,  and  duties,  and  anxieties.  .  .  . 


82  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

Homer  informs  us  that  the  moment  a  man  be 
comes  a  slave,  he  loses  half  the  man ;  and  a  few 
short  years  of  apprenticeship  will  expunge  all 
the  rest,  except  the  faint  glimmerings  of  an 
immortal  soul.  Take  your  stand,  therefore, 
courageously  in  the  swamp,  spade  and  mattock 
in  hand,  and,  uncovered  and  half  naked,  toil 
beneath  the  broiling  sun.  Go  home  to  your 
hut  at  night,  and  sleep  on  the  bare  ground,  and 
go  forth  in  the  morning  unwashed  to  your  daily 
labor,  and  a  few  short  years,  or  a  generation 
or  two  at  the  most,  will  give  you  a  color  that 
will  pass  muster  in  the  most  fastidious  and  pious 
slave  market  in  Christendom."  There  were  de 
grees  in  slavery,  and  having  quoted  Homer  to 
illustrate  its  evils,  he  now  cited  a  modern  poet. 
"Dante,  by  actual  observation,  makes  hell  con 
sist  of  nine  circles,  the  punishments  of  each  in 
creasing  in  intensity  over  the  preceding.  Those 
doomed  to  the  first  circle  are  much  less  afflicted 
than  those  in  the  ninth,  where  are  tortured  Lu 
cifer  and  Judas  Iscariot  —  and,  I  trust,  in  the 
next  edition  will  be  added  the  Traitors  to  Lib 
erty.  But  notwithstanding  this  difference  in 
degree,  all  from  the  first  circle  to  the  ninth, 
inclusive,  is  hell  —  cruel,  desolate,  abhorred, 
horrible  hell."  He  then  recurred  to  the  fugitive 
slave  law.  The  owner  of  the  slave  had  as  effec 
tive  remedies  to  recover  his  property  as  the 


ANTI-SLAVERY   SPEECHES  83 

owner  of  a  horse.  After  citing  the  provisions 
of  the  law,  he  said :  "  Is  not  this  sufficient  ?  It 
is  all  the  right  which  he  would  have  if  he  claims 
property  in  a  horse,  or  other  property,  which  he 
might  allege  had  strayed  over  the  line.  Why 
should  he  have  any  greater  right  when  he  claims 
property  in  man?  Is  a  man  of  so  much  less 
value  than  a  horse,  that  he  should  be  deprived  of 
the  ordinary  protection  of  the  law?"  He  then 
drew  a  picture  which  was  a  most  familiar  one  in 
his  experience.  "If  an  inhabitant  of  a  free 
State  sees  a  wretched  fugitive,  who,  he  learns, 
is  fleeing  from  bondage,  and  gives  him  a  meal 
of  victuals  to  keep  him  from  starving,  and 
allows  him  to  sleep  in  his  outhouse,  although  his 
master  is  not  in  pursuit  of  him,  he  is  liable  to 
the  penalty  of  five  hundred  dollars.  A  judge  in 
Pennsylvania  lately  held  that  a  worthy  citizen 
of  Indiana  County  incurred  such  penalty  by 
giving  a  cup  of  water  and  a  crust  of  bread  to 
a  famishing  man,  whom  he  knew  to  be  fleeing 
from  bondage.  A  slave  family  escaped  from 
Maryland,  went  into  Cumberland  County,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  obtained  the  reluctant  consent  of 
a  worthy  farmer  to  sleep  in  his  hayloft.  Their 
owner  did  not  pursue  them  for  a  week  after 
wards.  It  was  held  by  a  state  court  that  the 
farmer  was  liable  for  the  full  value  of  the 
slaves,  besides  the  $500  penalty,  and  a  jury 


84  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

returned  a  verdict  for  $2000  and  costs.  Such 
are  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  law  of  1793, 
now  in  force,  which  these  great  expounders  of 
constitutional  freedom  hold  to  be  too  mild." 

He  commented  with  a  good  deal  of  asperity 
upon  the  course  of  Webster  and  Clay.  The 
sons  of  the  South  were  faithful,  even  though 
its  cause  was  that  of  human  bondage.  "But 
the  North,  the  poor,  timid,  mercenary,  drivel 
ing  North,  has  no  such  united  defenders  of 
her  cause,  although  it  is  the  cause  of  human 
liberty.  Even  her  own  great  men  have  turned 
her  accusers."  He  declared  his  unyielding 
opposition  to  the  fugitive  slave  law.  "  The 
distinguished  senator  from  Kentucky  [Clay] 
wishes  further  to  make  it  the  duty  of  all  by 
standers  to  aid  in  the  capture  of  fugitives;  to 
join  the  chase  and  run  down  the  prey.  This  is 
asking  more  than  my  constituents  will  ever 
grant.  They  will  strictly  abide  by  the  Consti 
tution.  The  slaveholder  may  pursue  his  slave 
among  them  with  his  own  foreign  myrmidons, 
unmolested,  except  by  their  frowning  scorn.  But 
no  law  that  tyranny  can  pass  will  ever  induce 
them  to  join  the  hue  and  cry  after  the  trembling 
wretch  who  has  escaped  from  unjust  bondage. 
Their  fair  land,  made  by  nature  and  their  own 
honest  toil  as  fertile  and  as  lovely  as  the  Vale 
of  Tempe,  shall  never  become  the  hunting- 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  85 

ground  on  which  the  bloodhounds  of  slavery 
shall  course  their  prey  and  command  them  to 
join  the  hunt." 

The  speeches  of  Stevens  upon  slavery  in  the  ^^^ 
thirty-first  Congress  were  more  rhetorical  than 
those  in  his  later  style,  and  the  faculty  of  wit 
which  he  could  so  successfully  employ  to  pro 
voke  laughter  and  to  promote  a  kindly  feeling, 
displayed  itself  in  these  speeches  in  a  biting, 
destructive  sarcasm  which  grew  out  of  his  ine 
radicable  hatred  of  slavery.  They  will,  on  the 
whole,  bear  comparison  with  any  that  were 
made  during  the  entire  history  of  the  agitation. 

It  should  be  noted,  also,  that  he  did  not 
speak  one  way  and  vote  another.  Clay's  "om 
nibus  bill,"  which  contained  the  five  features 
of  the  compromise,  was  defeated  in  the  Senate, 
and  having,  in  consequence,  been  resolved  into 
its  original  elements,  it  came  over  to  the  House 
in  the  shape  of  five  distinct  bills.  Stevens 
voted  to  the  last  against  the  fugitive  slave  law  I 
and  the  establishment  of  the  territories  with-  I 
out  a  prohibition  against  slavery.  Enough 
of  the  Whigs,  however,  were  willing  to  join 
with  the  Democrats  to  pass  the  Democratic 
features  of  the  compromise,  and  enough  Demo 
crats  united  with  the  Whigs  to  pass  the  Whig 
features;  thus  ultimately  the  propositions  of 
Clay  all  became  embodied  in  law.  The  crisis 


86  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

was,  perhaps,  the  most  grave  that  had  arisen 
under  our  government,  and  it  was  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  statesmanship  of  Clay  and  the 
support  he  received  from  Webster  that  it  was 
peacefully  passed.  The  settlement,  however, 
was  only  for  the  moment,  and  it  was  soon 
brushed  aside  by  the  impetuous  slave  leaders  in 
their  aggressive  career,  which  finally  culminated 
in  war. 

Stevens  was  reflected  to  the  thirty-second 
Congress.  It  assembled  under  much  more 
peaceful  conditions  than  had  attended  the  meet 
ing  of  its  predecessor.  The  House  organized 
without  difficulty,  and  on  the  ballot  for  speaker 
Stevens  received  sixteen  votes.  Among  his 
supporters  were  Charles  Allen,  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  and  Horace  Mann.  The  compromise 
measures  of  Clay  had  temporarily  effected  a 
truce,  and  the  great  controversy  in  our  poli 
tics  was  at  that  time  dormant.  Since  the  sla 
very  agitation  was  suspended,  Stevens  had  to 
/be  contented  with  the  tariff,  and  his  most  elabo 
rate  speech  in  the  thirty-second  Congress  was 
upon  that  subject.  The  speech  was  obviously 
intended  for  campaign  purposes,  and  was  made 
upon  the  Indian  appropriation  bill,  under  the 
rule  or  custom  which  makes  all  sorts  of  obser 
vations  usual  in  a  debate  upon  an  appropriation 
bill  except  such  as  are  pertinent  to  the  bill. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SPEECHES  87 

He  felt  called  upon  at  the  outset  to  express  sor 
row  at  the  "unhappy  difficulties  and  dissensions 
which  had  destroyed  the  Democratic  party,"  — 
a  statement  which  was  not  strongly  sustained  by 
the  election  which  soon  followed,  in  which  the 
Democratic  candidate  got  nearly  all  the  votes. 
His  argument  for  the  protective  policy  was  an 
able  one,  but  it  dealt  largely  with  the  duties  on 
iron,  and  was  apparently  directed  to  the  voters 
of  his  own  State. 

One  other  extended  speech  he  made  in  this 
Congress,  and  this  time  nominally  upon  the 
army  appropriation  bill.  This  also  was  a  cam 
paign  speech,  touching  upon  all  the  leading 
issues  of  the  presidential  election,  containing 
ridicule  of  Mr.  Pierce  and  praise  of  General 
Scott.  He  declared  that  Pierce  could  be  relied 
upon  to  extend  slavery  and  to  aid  in  securing 
the  admission  of  new  slave  States,  notwith 
standing  that  a  speech  which  he  was  believed 
to  have  made  had  squinted  in  the  opposite 
direction  :  —  "If  he  ever  did  utter  such  senti 
ments  —  if  he  ever  did  fall  into  the  path  of 
rectitude,  it  was  momentary  and  accidental, 
and  for  which  he  is  not  to  be  held  responsible 
(renewed  laughter)  —  for  all  his  votes  in  Con 
gress  and  all  his  public  acts  everywhere  pro 
claim  him  the  champion  of  slavery."1  On  the 

1  Globe,  32d  Congress,  1st  session,  Appendix,  p.  1029. 


88  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

other  hand,  he  alleged  that  Scott  had  nearly  all 
the  virtues  that  could  be  desired  in  a  presidential 
candidate;  that  he  was  "  deeply  versed  in  muni 
cipal  and  international  law;  "  that  he  was  as 
brave  as  Caesar,  "with  no  particle  of  his  ambi 
tion;  "  that  he  believed  it  to  be  the  moral  duty 
of  slave  States  voluntarily  to  abolish  slavery,  — 
and  a  good  deal  more  in  the  same  vein.  In  spite 
of  these  ideal  qualities  as  a  candidate,  Scott  was 
disastrously  beaten.  The  people  were  getting 
weary  of  the  slavery  agitation,  and  as  the  De 
mocratic  platform  pledged  the  party  to  stand  by 
the  compromise  of  1850,  the  nation  concluded 
to  take  that  party  at  its  word.  The  signal  De 
mocratic  triumph,  however,  was  speedily  fol 
lowed  by  a  repudiation  of  the  compromise  and 
a  radical  reopening  of  the  whole  controversy. 
But  in  the  mean  time  Stevens  had  retired,  as 
he  thought  permanently,  to  private  life,  from 
which  he  did  not  again  emerge  until  his  coun 
trymen,  aroused  to  fever  heat,  were  about  to 
decide  the  question  amid  the  clash  of  arms,  and 
he  was  to  do  the  work  which  was  destined  to 
make  his  name  immortal. 


CHAPTER  VI 

RESUMES     LAW     PRACTICE  —  AGAIN     RETURNED 
TO   CONGRESS  —  CAMPAIGN   OF  I860 

STEVENS  retired  from  Congress  in  March, 
1853,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  did  not  expect 
to  hold  office  again.  In  the  very  last  hour  of 
the  session  he  arose  to  a  personal  explanation, 
for  the  purpose  of  disavowing  any  intention  of 
disparaging  a  colleague  in  a  speech  he  had 
made.  "It  is  more  than  probable,"  he  said, 
"that  hereafter  I  shall  never  meet  any  member, 
here  or  elsewhere,  officially,  and  I  desire  to 
part  with  no  unfriendly  feeling  towards  any  of 
them."  He  returned  to  Lancaster,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession  with  increased 
ardor,  although  he  had  not  entirely  relinquished 
it  during  his  service  in  the  House.  During  the 
latter  part  of  1851  he  had  appeared  as  counsel 
in  the  Hanway  treason  case,  which  was  heard 
in  the  United  States  court  in  Philadelphia,  and 
was  probably  the  first  important  case,  in  Penn 
sylvania  at  least,  arising  under  the  fugitive 
slave  law  of  1850,  which  Stevens  had  so  vigor 
ously  opposed  in  Congress. 


90  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Certain  slaves. of  Edward  Gorsuch,  of  Mary 
land,  had  escaped  into  Pennsylvania,  and  were 
living  in  Lancaster  County  with  other  members 
of  their  race.  The  owner  proceeded  under  the 
fugitive  slave  act,  and,  having  obtained  war 
rants  for  the  fugitives,  he  went  with  the  United 
States  marshal  to  point  them  out.  The  negroes 
had  secured  arms,  and  energetically  resisted  the 
officer  in  his  attempt  to  serve  the  process.  Dur 
ing1  the  encounter  Gorsuch  was  killed  and  two 

o 

other  members  of  the  marshal's  party  were 
wounded.  Two  white  men,  of  whom  Castner 
Hanway  was  one,  and  several  others,  were 
arrested  and  tried  on  the  charge  of  treason.  It 
is  rare  that  any  criminal  proceeding  has  ever  so 
thoroughly  aroused  the  country.  The  fugitive 
slave  act  had  only  recently  been  passed  amid 
intense  popular  excitement.  While  an  officer 
of  the  law  was  proceeding  according  to  its  terms, 
the  Southern  slave-owner  had  been  shot  down  by 
negroes.  Not  unnaturally  the  South  was  greatly 
exasperated,  and  a  numerous  party  in  the  North 
supported  the  demand  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
law.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  not  a  few 
who  believed  that  a  man,  who  was  not  accused 
of  crime,  should  have  a  right  to  fight  for  his 
freedom,  any  statute  or  even  the  Constitution 
itself  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  trial  closely  held  public  attention  during 


KESUMES  LAW  PRACTICE  91 

the  fifteen  days  that  it  lasted,  and  was  memo 
rable  on  account  of  the  brilliant  display  of  legal 
talent  which  it  called  forth.  It  appears  to  be 
conceded  upon  all  sides  that  Stevens  was  the 
inspiration  of  the  defense,  and  that  its  lines 
were  laid  down  by  him.  But  on  account  of  his 
extreme  anti-slavery  views  it  was  thought  best 
to  assign  the  part  of  leading  counsel  to  a  Demo 
cratic  lawyer,  and  an  extremely  able  one  was 
found  in  John  M.  Kead,  who  afterwards  became 
chief  justice  of  Pennsylvania.  The  trial  ended 
in  a  verdict  of  acquittal,  which  was  based  upon 
the  instruction  of  the  court  that  the  transaction 
did  not  rise  to  "the  dignity  of  treason  or  the 
levying  of  war." l 

The  law  practice  of  Stevens  must  have  been 
very  lucrative  during  the  interval  between  the 
two  periods  of  his  congressional  service.  He 
had  the  choice  of  cases  not  merely  in  Lancaster, 
but  also  in  the  adjacent  counties.  He  enjoyed 
a  reputation  second  to  that  of  no  lawyer  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  according  to  the  best  judges 
this  reputation  was  thoroughly  deserved.  Colo 
nel  Alexander  K.  McClure,  who  was  practicing 
law  in  a  neighboring  county  during  a  portion  of 
this  period,  knew  Stevens  intimately.  After 
a  long  and  honorable  career  in  Pennsylvania, 

1  See  McClure,  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  pp.  270, 271  ; 
Harris,  Political  Conflict  in  America,  pp.  146-154. 


92  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

in  public  life  and  as  a  journalist,  which  brought 
him  into  close  relations  with  the  leading  men 
of  his  State,  no  man  is  more  competent  to  place 
an  estimate  upon  the  position  of  Stevens  at  the 
bar,  and  I  am  fortunate  in  being  a,ble  to  present 
his  opinion,  which  I  shall  do  in  his  own  words. 
"I  had  some  experience  with  Mr.  Stevens  at 
the  bar  from  1856  until  ten  years  later,  as  he 
attended  all  the  Chambersburg  courts  and  tried 
one  side  of  all  the  most  important  cases.  I  was 
then  a  member  of  the  Chambersburg  bar,  and 
was  Mr.  Stevens 's  attorney  in  that  county  where 
he  had  his  large  iron  works.  I  have  seen  and 
heard  all  the  leading  men  of  the  Pennsylvania 
bar  who  were  contemporary  with  Mr.  Stevens, 
and  I  regarded  him  as  the  most  accomplished 
all  round  lawyer  we  had  in  the  State.  He  was 
thoroughly  grounded  in  the  fundamental  princi 
ples  of  the  law;  was  thoroughly  familiar  with 
cases  at  home  and  abroad ;  was  perfect  in  prac 
tice;  elicited  testimony  from  witnesses  better 
than  any  man  I  have  ever  heard  in  court,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  skillful  advocates  that  ever 
addressed  a  jury.  I  was  engaged  with  older 
counsel  against  Mr.  Stevens  in  the  first  import 
ant  case  I  ever  tried  after  my  admission  to  the 
bar,  and  felt  much  embarrassed  in  having  so 
accomplished  an  antagonist  ;  but  he  was  one  of 
the  most  courteous  men  in  the  trial  of  a  case, 


RESUMES  LAW  PRACTICE  93 

whether  engaged  with  or  against  him,  and  es 
pecially  to  the  younger  members  of  the  bar,  that 
I  have  ever  met.  His  invective,  that  was  always 
most  wisely  employed  in  the  trial  of  cases,  was 
terrible,  and  the  member  of  the  bar  who  under 
took  to  transcend  the  line  of  propriety  was  cer 
tain  to  pay  dearly  for  his  audacity;  but  he  was 
thoroughly  manly  and  generous  to  all  who  mer 
ited  such  treatment.  I  have  known  many  of 
our  great  lawyers  who  were  great  advocates  or 
great  in  the  skillful  direction  of  cases,  but  he  is 
the  only  man  I  can  recall  who  was  eminent  in 
all  the  attributes  of  a  great  lawyer." 1 

For  a  short  time  after  his  retirement  from 
Congress,  Stevens  appears  to  have  taken  little 
part  in  politics.  He  did  not  favor  the  compro 
mising  tendencies  of  the  Whig  party.  His  na 
ture  demanded  something  more  radical,  and  he 
probably  regarded  with  a  grim  sort  of  satisfac 
tion  the  disintegration  of  the  political  organiza 
tion  of  which  he  had  never  been  a  very  loyal 
member,  and  which  he  had  vainly  endeavored 
to  make  less  conservative,  first  upon  the  question 
of  Masonry  and  afterwards  upon  slavery.  In 
1855  he  attended  a  meeting  in  Lancaster,  which 
was  held  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the 
Eepublican  party  in  that  county.  The  move 
ment  was  not  regarded  with  favor,  and  less  than 
1  MS.  letter,  November  15,  1898. 


94  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

twenty  persons  attended  the  meeting.  The  fol 
lowing  year  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the 
Republican  national  convention,  which  nomi 
nated  Fremont  for  the  presidency.  The  forma 
tion  of  this  new  party,  pledged  to  assume  a 
more  aggressive  stand  against  the  extension  of 
slavery,  rekindled  his  ambition  to  enter  politics, 
and  he  reappeared  in  the  national  House  as  a 
representative  from  Lancaster  at  the  December 
session  of  1859. 

Although  he  was  then  nearly  sixty-eight  years 
old,  that  which  made  his  career  memorable  and 
most  distinguished  was  still  before  him.  He 
had  doubtless  shown  conspicuous  ability  in  every 
capacity  in  which  he  had  thus  far  been  called 
upon  to  act.  He  had  never  encountered  his  in 
tellectual  superior,  either  at  the  bar  or  in  the 
Pennsylvania  legislature,  or  in  his  four  years' 
service  in  the  national  House.  His  work  in 
establishing  free  schools  in  Pennsylvania  was  of 
transcendent  importance,  but  it  would  probably 
not  have  extended  his  fame  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  State.  He  had  made  one  or  two  anti- 
slavery  speeches  in  Congress,  which  deserve  to 
take  high  rank  in  the  literature  of  the  crusade 
against  slavery,  and  which  are  still  gratefully 
remembered  by  the  few  survivors  of  the  heroic 
band  of  those  who  stood  with  him  in  that  great 
struggle.  But  there  was  probably  never  any 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO   CONGRESS        95 

other  political  cause  in  which  so  much  elo 
quence,  good  and  bad,  had  been  expended  as 
in  the  anti-slavery  agitation,  and  his  speeches, 
standing  alone,  would  not  have  caused  him  to 
be  longer  remembered  than  some  of  the  speeches 
which  he  had  made  at  the  bar  in  behalf  of  fugi 
tive  slaves.  Although  he  had  shown  himself 
equal  to  every  part  he  had  been  called  upon  to 
play,  yet  his  great  opportunity  had  not  come, 
and  if  he  had  died  at  sixty-eight  his  name 
would  hardly  have  been  mentioned  in  the  his 
tory  of  his  country. 

It  was  evident  that  he  himself  had  no  premo 
nition  of  the  work  before  him,  and  that  he  felt 
conscious  of  the  infirmities  of  age.  Something 
like  an  apology  for  his  reappearance  upon  the 
scene  is  found  in  a  short  eulogy  which  he  deliv 
ered  upon  one  of  his  colleagues,  John  Schwarz, 
soon  after  his  return  to  Congress.  He  said  that 
the  loss  of  his  colleague  would  perhaps  have 
been  greater  if  he  had  been  cut  off  in  the  prime 
of  manhood.  "There  are  but  few  in  this 
House,"  he  added,  "who  with  me  can  appre 
ciate  the  force  of  that  suggestion.  It  were  per 
haps  more  graceful  for  those  who  are  conscious 
that  age  or  infirmity  has  impaired  their  mental 
and  physical  powers,  who  find  by  repeated  trials 
that  they  can  no  longer  bend  the  bow  of  Ulysses, 
to  retire,  and  lay  down  the  discus  which  they 


96  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

have  not  the  strength  to  hurl."  How  he  might 
at  an  earlier  age  have  done  the  work  that  was 
his  to  do  can  only  be  conjectured,  but  his  su 
preme  opportunity  came  to  him  in  that  far  time 
when  most  men  cease  from  their  labors,  and  he 
then  proved  that  he  still  retained  enough  of  his 
youthful  strength  to  take  easily  the  lead  in  mo 
mentous  events  with  which  only  a  great  man 
can  deal,  and  for  which  a  real  leader  is  chosen, 
not  because  men  consciously  want  him,  but  be 
cause  the  events  seek  him  out  by  a  process  of 
natural  selection. 

By  a  curious  coincidence  the  beginning  of  the 
second  period  of  his  congressional  service  was 
marked  by  a  contest  over  the  organization  of 
the  House  not  less  exciting  and  even  more  pro 
tracted  than  that  which  had  occurred  when  he 
first  became  a  member  of  that  body.  As  a 
result  of  its  aggressive  policy  the  new  Repub 
lican  party  had  elected  a  greater  number  of 
the  members  of  the  House  than  the  Democrats 
had  succeeded  in  electing.  The  Whig  party  had 
almost  entirely  disappeared,  and  its  name  was 
perpetuated  in  the  House  by  only  a  single  mem 
ber.  The  Republicans,  however,  could  not  com 
mand  the  majority  of  all  the  members,  which 
was  necessary  to  a  control,  and  the  balance  of 
power  was  held  by  the  twenty-six  members 
of  the  "American  "  party,  so  called,  who  were 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO   CONGRESS        97 

somewhat  less  radical  than  the  Republicans  upon 
the  question  of  slavery,  and  were  chosen,  not 
so  much  upon  a  platform  for  the  restriction 
of  immigration,  as  from  hostility  to  foreign- 
born  citizens. 

At  the  outset  the  Republican  strength  was 
divided  on  the  vote  for  speaker  between  John 
Sherman  and  Galusha  A.  Grow,  the  former  of 
whom  has  only  recently  retired  from  politics 
after  a  highly  useful  and  illustrious  career,  and 
the  latter  is  still  serving  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  with  undiminished  ability  and  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  and  patriotic  zeal  which 
characterized  him  as  speaker  during  the  presi 
dency  of  Lincoln.  The  Republican  vote  was 
very  soon  consolidated  upon  Sherman;  but  al 
though  he  received  support  from  the  "Ameri 
can  "  party  he  never  quite  secured  the  necessary 
majority. 

The  proceedings  were  scarcely  less  turbulent 
than  when,  in  the  thirty-first  Congress,  Mr. 
Toombs  had  so  easily  outshone  all  competitors 
in  violence  and  intemperate  threats.  The  roll- 
call  was  interrupted  by  long  speeches,  many  of 
them  apparently  made  with  the  purpose  of  con 
suming  time,  and  some  doubtless  to  intimidate 
Northern  members  with  the  well-worn  threat  of 
dissolving  the  Union.  Stevens  had  been  through 
a  similar  contest,  and  he  attempted  to  check 


98  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  flow  of  incendiary  oratory  by  the  point  of 
order,  that  the  only  business  the  House  could 
transact  under  the  Constitution  was  to  vote  for 
speaker  or  adjourn.  Well  founded  as  his  point 
of  order  certainly  was,  he  was  not  conspicuously 
fitted  to  fill  the  role  of  peacemaker,  if  indeed 
he  had  taken  the  floor  with  so  serious  a  purpose. 
He  grimly  observed,  amid  Republican  laughter, 
that  he  did  not  blame  Southern  members  "for 
using  this  threat  of  rending  God's  creation  from 
the  turret  to  the  foundation."  They  had  uttered 
the  menace  a  great  many  times,  and  a  great; 
many  times  they  had  found  "weak  and  timid 
tremblers  in  the  North  who  had  been  affected 
by  it."  He  then  congratulated  them  upon  their 
ability  to  maintain  grave  countenances  while 
again  attempting  the  same  play. 

This  outpouring  of  vinegar  instead  of  oil 
produced  its  natural  and  probably  its  intended 
result,  and  provoked  interruptions  and  threats, 
the  angry  sincerity  of  which  could  not  be 
doubted.  "That  is  right,"  said  Stevens,  "that 
is  the  way  they  frightened  us  before."  This 
irritating  response  added  new  fury  to  the  storm, 
and  the  members  rushed  together  in  the  centre 
of  the  hall  amid  the  greatest  excitement  and 
disorder.  The  clerk  declared  that  he  was  pow 
erless  to  enforce  order.  Stevens  relieved  the 
strain  and  displayed  his  power  over  the  members 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO  CONGRESS        99 

by  saying  blandly :  "  This  is  a  mere  momentary 
breeze,  sir,  nothing  else." 

The  contest  continued  for  more  than  eight 
weeks.  Stevens  occasionally  took  a  hand  and 
rekindled  the  fury  of  his  antagonists,  when  the 
proceedings  lapsed  into  dullness ;  and  sometimes, 
when  the  danger  point  was  near,  he  averted  the 
trouble  by  some  happy  remark  which  restored 
good  humor.  Mr.  Anderson,  a  Democratic 
member  from  Missouri,  proposed  that  all  parties 
opposed  to  the  Republican  party  should  get  to 
gether  in  a  caucus  and  agree  on  an  organization 
of  the  House,  —  a  nai've  suggestion  which,  if 
followed,  would  have  given  his  party  the  control 
of  the  House.  The  gentleman,  said  Stevens, 
amid  great  laughter,  had  proposed  "  that  happy 
family  described  in  the  'Prairie  '  where  the  prai 
rie  wolf,  the  owl,  and  the  rattlesnake  live  in  one 
hole." 

One  day,  late  in  the  contest,  Stevens  arose 
with  a  very  serious  countenance,  and  said  that 
a  vote  of  his  had  been  criticised  in  a  newspaper, 
and  he  desired  to  make  an  explanation.  He 
thereupon  sent  to  the  clerk's  desk  a  paper, 
which  he  requested  should  be  read.  The  clerk, 
after  looking  blankly  at  the  paper,  replied,  amid 
the  usual  laughter  that  almost  invariably  at 
tended  the  appearance  of  Stevens  during  that 
contest :  "  The  paper  is  printed  in  German,  and 


100  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  clerk  cannot  read  it."  "Then,"  said  Ste 
vens,  "I  postpone  my  remarks  until  the  clerk 
can  read  it." 

There  was  certainly  something  in  his  ready 
and  unfailing  wit  and  in  his  manner  that  cap 
tured  the  House.  The  official  record  of  the 
little  speeches  which  he  interjected  into  the  pro 
ceedings  are  frequently  punctured  with  the  re 
port  of  "laughter."  The  man  himself  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  moment  formed  a  great 
part  of  what  he  said,  and  the  effect  cannot  be 
reproduced  by  a  repetition.  There  could  hardly 
be  a  better  tribute  to  his  wit.  It  was  never- 
failing,  always  sufficient,  and  it  played  like 
heat  lightning  over  the  proceedings  of  the 
House;  yet  sometimes  it  would  show  the  force 
of  the  bolt  that  kills.  "I  never  saw  any  one 
who  was  his  match,"  said  one  who  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  during  the  entire  period  of  his 
second  term  of  service,  and  who  served  with 
great  distinction  in  both  houses  of  Congress. 
"  There  was  usually  that  quality  in  his  wit  which 
compelled  you  to  join  in  the  laugh  he  raised, 
even  when  it  was  at  your  own  expense." 1 

It  was,  however,  the  exception  for  good  humor 

to  prevail  during  this  long-drawn-out  struggle 

for  the  speakership.     The  contest  for  that  office 

was  the  occasion,  but  it  was  far  from  being  the 

1  Hon.  Henry  L.  Dawes. 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO   CONGRESS      101 

cause,  of  those  heated  exhibitions  of  partisan 
ship  and  violations  of  parliamentary  decorum 
which,  during  two  months,  signalized  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
great  contest  over  slavery  had  reached  a  climax. 
The  "irrepressible  conflict"  with  freedom  was 
rapidly  passing  outside  the  domain  of  laws 
and  compromises  and  taking  the  inevitable  form 
of  an  appeal  to  arms.  The  crisis  of  1850  had 
been  safely  passed  by  a  compromise  which  was 
distasteful  to  both  parties,  as  all  real  compro 
mises  are  apt  to  be,  but  which  a  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  country  were  doubtless  willing  to 
accept. 

President  Pierce,  who  had  been  elected  by 
an  overwhelming  vote,  had  declared  in  his  first 
annual  message  to  Congress  that  the  settlement 
had  resulted  in  giving  "renewed  vigor  to  our 
institutions  and  restored  a  sense  of  peace  and 
security,"  and  he  promised  that  the  repose  which' 
had  resulted  from  the  compromise  should  not 
be  disturbed  if  he  had  the  power  to  prevent  it. 
The  convention  which  nominated  him  had  given 
a  pledge  against  reopening  the  slavery  question. 
The  leaders  of  the  aggressive  slavery  party, 
however,  immediately  proceeded  to  redeem  this 
pledge  by  the  repeal  of  the  "Missouri  Compro 
mise,"  which  had  been  in  force  for  a  generation, 
and  which  the  people  of  the  North  regarded 


102  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

only  less  reverently  than  the  Constitution  itself. 
This  act  of  bad  faith,  followed  as  it  was  by  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  the  criminally  conducted 
attempt  to  force  the  new  State  of  Kansas  to 
accept  slavery,  and  the  confident  beginning  of 
an  agitation  to  wipe  out  the  laws  against  the 
slave  trade,  aroused  the  spirit  of  the  North  and 
made  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  the  controversy 
well-nigh  impossible.  Of  what  use  were  com 
promises,  when  the  most  solemn  ones  were  en 
tered  into  only  to  be  deliberately  broken?  The 
middle  ground  for  conservatives  to  stand  upon 
was  each  day  growing  narrower,  and  the  people 
of  the  country  were  rapidly  dividing  into  two 
parties,  of  which  the  advocates  of  slavery  formed 
the  one,  and  the  friends  of  freedom  the  other. 

It  was  in  this  condition  of  affairs  that  the 
thirty-sixth  Congress  assembled.  It  was  hardly 
to  be  expected  that  all  the  niceties  of  parlia 
mentary  decorum  should  be  observed  when, 
after  a  long  controversy,  the  passions  of  men 
had  at  last  been  kindled  to  the  point  of  fighting. 
Stevens,  who  had  nothing  of  compromise  in  his 
nature,  found  himself  at  last  in  accord  with  the 
prevailing  popular  temper,  which  demanded 
something  radical  instead  of  craving  sedatives. 
He  was  enveloped  by  a  very  different  atmo 
sphere  from  that  which  pervaded  the  House 
when  he  was  formerly  a  member,  and  one  that 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO  CONGRESS      103 

was  altogether  more  congenial;  and  although 
the  interruption  in  his  service  had  placed  him 
to  a  certain  extent  in  the  position  of  a  new 
member,  yet  he  at  once  naturally  assumed  a 
more  prominent  place  than  he  had  ever  held 
before.  The  Democratic  leaders  had  treasured 
up  some  of  his  declarations  made  against  slavery 
during  his  former  service,  and  their  efforts  to 
call  him  to  account  provoked  responses  which 
were  received  by  his  own  side  with  unmistak 
able  expressions  of  approval.  Mr.  Clemens  in 
terrupted  Stevens  during  one  of  his  speeches  in 
the  speakership  contest,  and  asked  him  whether 
he  had  not  declared  in  a  speech  in  Congress 
that  the  slave  States  should  be  surrounded  by 
free  States  as  by  a  cordon  of  fire  until  slavery 
like  a  scorpion  should  sting  itself  to  death.  "If 
I  did,"  replied  Stevens,  "it  is  in  the  books." 
Clemens  pressed  for  a  more  direct  answer,  and 
Stevens  then  suggested  that  perhaps  he  was 
thinking  of  a  remark  of  a  friend  of  his  from 
New  York,  who  said  he  would  surround  the 
slave  States  "with  an  atmosphere  of  freedom, 
and  that  they  should  breathe  it  or  die."  At  the 
same  time,  Stevens  declared  that  " republican 
ism  is  founded  in  the  love  of  universal  liberty 
and  in  hostility  to  slavery,"  and  that  if  he  had 
the  power  he  would  abolish  human  servitude 
everywhere.  But  "the  Constitution  of  the 


104  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

United  States,"  he  added,  "gives  us  no  power 
to  interfere  with  the  institutions  of  our  sister 
States."  While  he  denied  that  the  Republican 
party  had  any  desire  to  disregard  any  of  the 
safeguards  which  the  Constitution  threw  around 
slavery,  it  would  never  favor  any  extension  of 
slavery  upon  this  continent,  and  it  would  at  an 
opportune  time  abolish  it  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  where  Congress  undoubtedly  had  juris 
diction.  The  contest  over  the  speaker  ship  at 
last  came  to  an  end  through  the  union  of  the 
forces  hostile  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  thus 
a  Republican  speaker  was  elected. 

The  first  important  work  to  engage  the  atten 
tion  of  Stevens  concerned  the  pressing  needs  of 
the  national  treasury,  which  was  in  a  most  im 
pecunious  condition.  The  Committee  on  Ways 
and  Means,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  reported 
a  bill  for  the  payment  of  outstanding  treasury 
notes,  to  fund  the  debt,  chiefly  caused  by  the 
deficiency  in  the  revenues  which  had  existed  for 
nearly  three  years,  to  repeal  the  tariff  act  of 
1857,  and  to  substitute  a  new  measure  for  rais 
ing  revenue,  of  which  the  important  feature  was 
an  increase  of  the  duties  upon  imports.  The  act 
of  1857  had  not  shone  brightly  as  a  producer  of 
revenue.  During  each  year  of  its  existence  the 
income  had  fallen  far  short  of  the  expenditures, 
and  for  the  three  years  the  deficit  had  amounted 


AGAIN  RETURNED  TO   CONGRESS      105 

in  the  aggregate  to  the  sum  of  850,000,000, 
which  was  an  enormous  amount  upon  a  scale  of 
national  expenditures  not  one  fifth  so  great  as 
that  of  thirty -five  years  afterwards. 

The  revenue  measure  proposed  by  the  com 
mittee  to  which  Stevens  belonged  was  exhaust 
ively  debated,  and  arguments  which  even  at  that 
time  were  far  from  novel,  and  certainly  have 
not  since  been  permitted  to  become  unfamiliar, 
were  offered  in  support  respectively  of  protection 
and  of  free  trade.  Stevens  made  his  contribu 
tion  to  the  discussion  in  a  speech,  in  which  he 
made  the  somewhat  paradoxical  point  that  the 
repeal  of  the  corn  laws  in  Great  Britain  was 
essentially  a  protective  enactment,  because  the 
only  advantage  possessed  by  American  manu 
facturers  over  the  British  was  in  cheapness  of 
food,  and  this  was  destroyed  by  the  removal  of 
the  duty.  He  declared  further  that  the  British 
export  duty  on  coal  was  also  protective,  because 
it  compelled  the  manufacturers  of  France  and 
other  competing  countries,  poorly  supplied  with 
coal,  to  pay  more  for  it,  and  to  that  extent 
gave  the  English  manufacturer  an  advantage. 
This  was  ingenious,  but  hardly  consistent  with 
other  arguments  advanced  on  Stevens 's  side  of 
the  controversy,  because  both  his  propositions 
were  based  on  the  theory  that  laws  which  tended 
to  give  the  manufacturers  relatively  cheaper 


106  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

raw  material  were  in  their  nature  protective. 
The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  large  majority, 
and  ultimately  became  a  law  in  the  closing  days 
of  the  Congress,  because  of  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Southern  senators,  and  because  the  Presi 
dent,  in  view  of  the  approaching  war,  felt  com 
pelled  to  accept  the  increased  revenue  which 
the  bill  offered,  although  it  was  drawn  upon 
principles  antagonistic  to  his  own. 

Stevens  also  frequently  took  part  in  the  de 
bates  on  contested  election  cases,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  he  condemned  the  system, 
under  which  the  whole  House  assumed  to  act 
judicially  upon  the  long  and  contradictory  re 
cords  usually  found  in  those  cases,  and  would 
then  decide  in  almost  every  case,  arid  with  the 
best  of  intentions,  upon  partisan  grounds.  The 
obvious  impossibility  of  securing  the  semblance 
of  judicial  fairness  from  a  large  body,  composed 
of  hundreds  of  members,  of  whom  many  were 
not  lawyers,  and  of  whom  also  not  one  in  twenty 
would  ordinarily  have  any  knowledge  of  the 
evidence,  strongly  appealed  to  his  common 
sense,  partisan  though  he  was,  and  impelled  him 
to  protest  against  a  method  which  so  often  re 
sulted  in  a  mere  travesty  upon  justice.  He 
declared  that  it  was  a  misfortune  that  we  had 
not  adopted  the  system  prevailing  in  the  Brit 
ish  parliament,  under  which  a  committee  was 


AGAIN  RETURNED   TO   CONGRESS      107 

selected  and  sworn  to  try  the  case,  and  their  re 
port  was  accepted  as  final.  Stevens,  however, 
bravely  survived  this  attack  of  non-partisanship, 
and  at  a  later  period  in  his  career,  after  he  had 
become  hardened  from  a  long  practice  at  politi 
cal  surgery,  he  had  advanced  so  far  that  upon 
one  occasion  he  entered  the  House  when  a  vote 
was  being  taken  upon  a  contested  election  case, 
of  the  merits  of  which  he  was  entirely  ignorant, 
and  in  order  that  he  might  know  how  to  cast 
his  own  vote  he  grimly  asked  of  a  colleague: 
"Which  one  is  our  d — d  rascal?  " 

Since  the  system  of  which  he  complained  had 
not  been  changed,  he  finally  adapted  himself  to 
it.  But  it  is  significant  that  he  condemned  it 
and  suggested  a  remedy,  which  since  his  day 
has  been  more  than  once  proposed,  for  a  system 
so  certain  of  abuse,  and  which  has  cast  reproach 
upon  the  House  of  Representatives. 

He  also  kept  a  keen  eye  upon  possible  jobs 
aimed  at  the  treasury.  An  instance  is  found 
in  a  project  of  an  international  character.  The 
Senate  had  added  amendments  to  the  naval 
appropriation  bill,  appropriating  $300,000  to 
enable  the  President  to  carry  into  effect  a  con 
ditional  contract  between  the  secretary  of  the 
navy  and  the  "Chiriqui  Improvement  Com 
pany,"  for  securing  coal  and  for  harbor  and 
other  privileges  in  the  Republic  of  Granada. 


108  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

The  project  was  supported  by  some  very  elo 
quent  and  patriotic  speeches.  It  was  said  that 
it  would  result  in  placing  a  "commercial  crown 
upon  American  brows;"  that  it  would  reestab 
lish  our  shipping  industry  and  give  us  a  large 
share  of  the  East  Indian  trade,  —  and  all  for 
the  small  sum  of  $300,000,  to  be  paid  to  the 
"Chiriqui  Improvement  Company." 

Stevens  unpatriotically  moved  to  amend  by 
striking  out  the  proposition  and  appropriating 
a  small  sum  to  pay  the  expense  of  a  commis 
sioner  to  investigate  the  entire  matter.  He  said 
that  his  information  was  to  the  effect  that  there 
was  no  coal  and  that  there  was  no  harbor.  The 
statement  that  if  we  did  not  take  it  some  other 
nation  would,  was  made  in  the  interest  of  specu 
lators  and  to  prevent  an  investigation.  France 
and  Great  Britain  had  known  about  it  for 
years,  but  the  gentlemen  controlling  the  scheme 
would  not  sell  it  to  them,  but  would  hold  it  for 
their  own  country,  "because  they  are  patriots 
of  the  first  water."  We  should  not  be  hurried 
into  the  appropriation.  He  then  raised  a  laugh 
against  the  proposition  by  saying :  "  I  think  it 
time  to  put  an  end  to  this  whole  thing  by  an 
•actual  touch  of  the  spear  of  Ithuriel  and  send 
ing  the  angel  out  there." 

One  of  the  advocates  of  the  measure  replied 
that  it  was  "not  to  be  killed  by  the  keen  satire 


CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  109 

or  the  merciless  ridicule  of  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania;  "  but  the  House  evidently  thought 
differently,  and  adopted  Stevens's  amendment 
without  a  division. 

The  great  Granada  scheme,  however,  was  not 
to  be  put  down  easily.  An  enterprise  with  so 
much  money  involved,  and  directed  against  the 
treasury,  rarely  is.  During  the  following  ses 
sion,  when  the  minds  of  members  were  engrossed 
with  the  effort  to  compromise  with  the  seceding 
States,  it  stealthily  put  in  an  appearance  in  the 
House  again.  This  time  it  fastened  itself  as 
an  amendment  upon  the  deficiency  appropria 
tion  bill,  which  seems  to  have  been  then,  what 
it  has  ever  since  remained,  an  attractive  bill  for 
jobs  little  suited  to  stand  the  ordeal  of  scrutiny 
and  debate.  But  it  did  not  escape  the  attention 
of  Stevens,  who  assailed  it  in  a  half  hour's 
speech,  in  which  he  refused  to  call  anybody  dis 
honest,  but  declared  that  the  scheme  was  "as 
bold  a  thing  as  was  ever  gotten  up  by  honest 
men."  He  caused  the  project  to  be  laughed 
out  of  the  House  even  more  decisively  than  on 
the  previous  occasion. 

The  adjournment  of  the  first  session  of  the 
thirty-sixth  Congress  was  followed  by  the  most 
exciting  presidential  campaign  in  the  history  of 
the  country.  The  great  issue  in  the  contest  of 
1860  necessarily  grew  out  of  the  question, 


110  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

whether  slavery  should  be  extended,  or  whether 
it  should  be  restrained  within  the  limits  in  which 
it  was  then  confined.  The  slavery  leaders  had 
only  themselves  to  thank  that  at  last  their  cher 
ished  institution  was  to  furnish  the  substantial 
ground  of  difference  in  a  presidential  election. 
Had  they  rested  content  with  the  compromise 
of  ten  years  before,  it  is  probable  that  it  would 
have  stood  for  a  generation.  Undoubtedly  there 
would  have  been  agitation,  as  the  "  institu 
tion,"  in  the  nature  of  things,  could  not  endure 
forever.  But  few  men,  if  any,  could  have  been 
found  at  that  time  in  public  life  willing  to  advo 
cate  the  interference  of  Congress  with  slavery 
in  States  where  it  had  been  established.  Even 
Stevens,  with  all  his  radicalism,  was  willing 
that  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  should 
be  enforced,  although  he  would  concede  no 
doubtful  construction. 

But  scarcely  had  the  compromise  of  1850  be 
come  operative  when  the  friends  of  slavery  se 
cured  its  repeal.  By  this  action  they  succeeded 
in  alienating  a  large  number  of  their  supporters 
whom  they  needed  in  the  final  contest.  Doug 
las,  who  had  yielded  to  the  extent  of  aiding  in 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  had 
more  than  redeemed  his  reputation  by  his  coura 
geous  struggle  against  the  attempt  to  force  slav 
ery  upon  Kansas.  The  bitter  hostility  of  the 


CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  111 

weak  and  obnoxious  administration  of  Buchanan 
gave  him  a  new  title  to  popular  favor,  and 
while  he  was  only  less  hateful  to  the  ultra 
slave  party  than  was  Lincoln  himself,  he  was 
idolized  by  the  majority  of  his  own  party,  and 
admired  by  many  of  the  followers  of  Lincoln. 
In  a  personal  campaign,  which  has  since  become 
somewhat  fashionable  among  candidates  for  the 
presidency,  but  was  then  almost  unknown,  he 
displayed  his  remarkable  capacity  as  a  cam 
paign  speaker  in  widely  separated  portions  of 
the  country;  and  in  the  final  disruption  of  his 
party,  which  was  witnessed  on  election  day,  by 
far  the  greater  number  of  its  members  were 
found  following  his  standard. 

The  unfortunate  leadership  which  had  broken 
up  the  Democratic  party  was  in  striking  con 
trast  with  the  sagacious  conduct  of  its  antago 
nist.  There  was  never  a  happier  outcome  from 
the  uncertain  chances  of  a  political  convention 
than  the  nomination  of  Lincoln.  He  was  not 
less  strong  as  a  candidate  because  he  could 
hardly  have  been  classed  among  the  leaders  of 
his  party.  He  had  always  been  active  in  the 
politics  of  his  own  State,  and  was  chiefly  known 
to  the  country  on  account  of  the  ability  he  had 
shown  as  a  leader  in  Illinois  and  especially  in 
the  joint  debates  with  Douglas.  But  his  com 
parative  obscurity  gave  him  a  great  advantage 


112  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

over  Seward,  whose  conspicuous  national  career 
had  engendered  antagonisms  which  showed  them 
selves  in  the  convention,  and  would  have  been 
sure  to  cause  the  loss  of  votes  at  the  polls. 

Stevens  sat  in  the  convention  as  a  delegate 
from  Pennsylvania.  His  delegation  supported 
Simon  Cameron,  whose  relations  with  him  per 
sonally  were  not  of  the  most  cordial  charac 
ter,  and  who  was  brought  forward  on  account 
of  his  prominence  in  the  politics  of  his  State. 
Stevens's  real  choice  for  the  presidency  was  John 
McLean,  who  stood  at  the  opposite  extreme 
of  the  party  from  himself,  and  was  probably 
the  most  conservative  of  all  the  candidates.1 
Cameron's  strength,  in  common  with  that  of 
the  other  candidates,  was  ultimately  transferred 
to  Lincoln,  for  whom  Stevens  voted  upon  the 
ballot  which  secured  his  nomination.  With 
such  a  candidate  supported  by  a  young,  ex 
panding,  and  vigorous  party,  and  with  Douglas 
scarcely  less  hostile  and  more  dangerous,  be 
cause  he  endeavored  to  take  a  middle  ground, 
the  cause  of  slavery  as  an  aggressive  institution 
was  doomed. 

A  good  deal  of  importance  has  often  been 
given  to  the  fact  that  Lincoln  was  chosen  pre 
sident  by  a  minority  of  the  popular  vote.  It 
is  true  that  the  popular  vote  for  the  Lincoln 
1  McClure,  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  p.  259. 


CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  113 

electors  was  much  less  than  the  combined  vote 
of  the  other  candidates ;  but  it  is  hardly  signifi 
cant,  because  it  is  also  true  that  the  supporters 
of  Douglas  were  nearer  to  the  supporters  of 
Lincoln  upon  the  question  of  the  extension 
of  slavery  than  they  were  to  the  party  of  Breck- 
enridge.  Douglas  had  gone  beyond  the  point 
of  political  safety  when  he  yielded  upon  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  Later  he  had  manfully 
broken  with  his  party  and  burned  his  bridges 
behind  him  upon  the  Kansas  question.  The 
forces,  then,  in  favor  of  extending  slavery  are 
measured  by  the  vote  for  Breckenridge ;  the 
forces  against  its  practical  extension  are  meas 
ured  by  the  combined  vote  for  Lincoln  and 
Douglas.  No  one  appreciated  this  fact  more 
clearly  than  did  the  Southern  leaders. 

The  meaning  of  the  election  appeared  to  be 
that,  in  the  territory  at  that  time  covered  by  our 
flag,  slavery  should  be  confined  to  the  States  in 
which  it  then  existed,  with  the  possibility  of  its 
extension  to  the  elevated  and  barren  regions  of 
New  Mexico.  That  was  the  probable  meaning 
of  the  popular  verdict.  But  popular  verdicts 
are  sometimes  given  away  when  put  in  the 
keeping  of  intimidated  representatives,  as  nar 
rowly  escaped  illustration  that  very  winter. 
Such  a  limitation  meant  the  loss  of  relative 
political  power  to  the  South,  and,  with  the 


114  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

admission  of  new  free  States,  with  the  rapid  in 
crease  in  population  and  wealth  that  was  sure 
to  come  to  the  North,  with  the  multiplication  of 
free  laborers  armed  with  the  ballot,  who  would 
not  work  in  competition  with  slaves,  and  with  a 
general  advance  in  civilization,  it  also  meant 
the  ultimate  abolition  of  slavery. 

The  Southern  statesmen  were  able  to  read  the 
handwriting  upon  the  wall,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  the  safety  of  their  cherished  institu 
tion  they  determined  upon  the  war  which  re 
sulted  in  freedom.  Peace  very  likely  would 
ultimately  have  led  to  the  same  end,  if,  indeed, 
there  could  have  been  any  real  peace  amid  such 
antagonistic  conditions;  but  the  pathway  that 
was  chosen  lay  through  the  wilderness,  and  the 
goal  was  reached  after  the  loss  of  more  than  six 
hundred  thousand  men,  the  destruction  of  enor 
mous  accumulations  of  wealth,  and  the  creation 
of  a  condition  of  things  in  the  revolting  States 
which  almost  caused  the  extinction  of  civilization 
itself. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SECESSION  —  CHARACTER    OF    SLAVERY    AGITA 
TION 

THE  thirty-sixth  Congress  came  together  again 
at  the  December  session  of  1860,  under  the 
shadow  of  impending  war.  The  movement  to 
disrupt  the  Union  had  been  already  well  devel 
oped.  The  secession  convention  in  South  Caro 
lina  had  been  called,  and  her  national  senators 
had  resigned  their  seats.  A  convention  had 
been  ordered  in  Georgia,  and  a  large  sum  of 
money  appropriated  to  arm  the  State.  The 
legislature  of  every  Southern  State  which  had 
assembled  had  taken  steps  in  support  of  the 
movement.  There  was  no  room  to  doubt  that 
a  grave  crisis  was  upon  the  country,  a  crisis 
which  demanded  vigilance,  energy,  courage 
well-tempered  with  discretion,  and,  above  all, 
patriotism  on  the  part  of  the  officers  of  the  gov 
ernment. 

Unfortunately,  President  Buchanan  had  few 
of  the  qualities  so  necessary  to  brave  such  a 
threatening  storm.  He  was  undoubtedly  pa 
triotic,  and  few  uien  could  write  an  abler  state 

X 


116  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

paper.  But  he  was  credulous,  inefficient,  com 
pletely  under  the  domination  of  the  Southern 
leaders,  and  so  little  alive  to  the  real  danger  of 
the  situation  that  he  was  apparently  willing  to 
use  it  for  his  own  justification  and  to  reprove 
the  people  of  the  North  for  electing  Lincoln  and 
casting  so  large  a  vote  for  Douglas.  Through 
out  his  administration  he  had  been  the  blind 
instrument  of  those  who  were  now  seeking  to 
overturn  the  government,  and  his  conduct  at 
the  critical  moment  deserves  to  be  regarded  as 
the  most  conspicuously  weak  action  of  his  whole 
career. 

In  his  message  to  Congress,  on  the  day  on 
which  that  body  assembled,  he  declared  that 
"the  long  continued  and  intemperate  interfer 
ence  of  the  Northern  people  with  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  has  at  length 
produced  its  natural  effects.  I  have  long  fore 
seen  and  often  forewarned  my  countrymen  of 
the  now  impending  danger."  The  claim  of 
Congress,  or  of  the  territorial  legislatures,  to  ex 
clude  slavery  from  the  territories,  or  the  refusal 
of  the  States  to  enforce  the  fugitive  slave  law 
might,  he  said,  have  been  endured  by  the  South. 
The  difficulty  arose  from  the  fact  that  this  agi 
tation  has  at  length  produced  its  "malign  influ 
ence  upon  the  slaves,  and  inspired  them  with 
vague  notions  of  freedom."  He  then  painted 


SECESSION  117 

in  vivid  colors  the  results  of  the  apprehension 
of  a  "servile  insurrection,"  and  added  that  uno 
political  union,  however  fraught  with  blessings 
and  benefits  in  all  other  respects,  can  long  con 
tinue,  if  the  necessary  consequence  be  to  render 
the  homes  and  the  firesides  of  half  the  parties 
to  it  habitually  and  hopelessly  insecure.  Sooner 
or  later  the  bonds  of  such  a  union  must  be  sev 
ered." 

Having  delivered  this  powerful  justification  of 
secession,  he  declared  his  conviction  "that  this 
fatal  period  has  not  yet  arrived."  This  decla 
ration  was  doiibtltss-  sincere,  but  it  proves  that 
the  President  did  not  comprehend  the  gravity 
of  the  cri?'  .ben  directed  a  strong  argu 

ment  to  ••!».-  a  against  breaking  up  the 

Union,  l.»ut  made  his  argument  ineffective  by 
subsequently  reaching  the  conclusion  that  in 
certain  eases  "the  injured  States,  after  having 
used  all  peaceful  and  constitutional  means  to 
obtain  redress,  would  be  justified  in  revolution 
ary  i"-  Distance  to  the  government  of  the  Union," 
that  the  means  of  preserving  the  Union  which 
Congress  possessed  were  only  of  a  conciliatory 
jharacter,  and  that  "the  sword  was  not  placed 
in  their  hands  to  preserve  it  by  force." 

Jefferson  Davis  himself  could  not  have  writ 
ten  a  message  better  suited  to  his  purpose  than 
was  here  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the  Presi- 


118  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

dent  of  the  United  States.  The  grievance  of 
the  South  was  admitted,  its  right  to  revolution 
ary  resistance  in  this  particular  case  was  all 
but  admitted,  and  the  power  of  preserving  the 
Union  by  force  was  denied.  The  harm  done  by 
the  message  was  beyond  all  calculation,  not  only 
in  the  South,  where  it  encouraged  the  belief 
that  there  would  be  no  resistance  to  secession, 
but  in  the  North  also,  where  Mr.  Buchanan's 
personal  influence  was  considerable  and  that  of 
his  office  was  great. 

The  President  was  not  long  in  seeing  his  fatal 
mistake.  The  hostile  comments  of  the  Southern 
press,  the  resignation  of  his  '  nerable  and  pa 
triotic  secretary  of  state,  Lewis  Cass,  and  the 
firm  stand  by  the  attorney -general.  Teremiah  S. 
Black,  with  reference  to  th<  r*-.. option  of  the 
"ambassadors"  from  South  Carolina,  who  came 
to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  forts,  brought 
the  President  to  his  senses.  Those  f 

the  cabinet  who  really  represented  secession, 
and  who  had  powerfully  contributed  by  the  use 
of  their  positions  to  the  cause  of  the  disunl-  ^~ 
ists,  now  that  their  influence  with  the  Presides - 
was  gone,  resigned,  and  proceeded  to  do  openly 
that  which  they  had  long  been  doing  secretly. 
His  cabinet  was  speedily  organized  upon  a 
basis  which  put  better  influences  in  the  ascend 
ency.  Jeremiah  S.  Black  was  made  secretary 


SECESSION  119 

of  state,  and  he  brought  his  splendid  ability  to 
the  task  of  extricating  the  President  from  the 
difficulty  in  which  he  had  been  placed  by  his 
argument  against  the  power  of  Congress  to 
maintain  the  Union  by  force,  and  in  which  Mr. 
Black  himself  had  been  responsible  to  a  consid 
erable  extent  for  involving  him.  The  result 
was  the  message  of  January  8,  1861,  which  dis 
played  a  radical  change  in  tone  from  the  mes 
sage  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  and  vindi 
cated  the  right  of  the  government  "to  use  the 
military  force  defensively  against  those  who 
resist  the  federal  officers  in  the  exercise  of 
their  legal  functions,  and  against  those  who 
assail  the  property  of  the  federal  government." 
It  is  significant  that  the  keen  eye  of  Stevens 
had  already  detected  this  loophole  of  escape  for 
the  President,  and  that  his  sense  of  leadership 
impelled  him  to  take  action.  On  the  last  day 
of  December,  nine  days  before  the  reception  of 
the  message,  he  presented  a  resolution  to  the 
House,  calling  upon  the  President  to  inform  the 
House  upon  the  condition  of  the  forts,  arse 
nals,  and  public  property  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
city  of  Charleston;  "whether  any  means  were 
taken  to  garrison  them  and  put  them  in  a  de 
fensible  condition  after  it  became  evident  that 
South  Carolina  intended  to  secede;  "  how  many 
troops  were  there,  and  whether  orders  had  been 


120  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

given  for  reinforcements.  This  resolution  failed 
to  receive  the  two-thirds  vote  which  the  rules  of 
the  House  required  for  its  passage,  but  it  re 
ceived  a  considerable  majority,  the  vote  being 
91  to  62.  This  action  conveyed  an  unmistak 
able  intimation  to  the  President  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  a  large  majority  of  the  House,  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  administration  to  provide  for 
the  defense  of  our  forts  and  public  property, 
and  it  must  have  infused  into  Mr.  Buchanan 
a  certain  degree  of  that  courage  of  which  he  so 
sadly  stood  in  need. 

But  if  the  President  had  failed  to  comprehend 
the  importance  of  the  crisis,  Congress  proved 
itself  fully  alive  to  it.  Indeed,  it  was  so  im 
pressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  danger,  that 
it  was  willing,  in  order  to  avert  it,  to  sacrifice 
freedom  itself.  Each  House  at  once  appointed 
a  special  committee  to  deal  with  the  situation. 
The  Senate  committee  was  composed  of  thir 
teen  members,  which  was  equal  in  number  to 
the  States  which  formed  the  original  Union. 
The  House  committee  of  thirty -three  contained 
a  member  for  each  of  the  States  then  included 
in  the  Union.1  The  Senate  committee  soon  re 
ported  a  disagreement,  and  its  work  amounted 
to  nothing. 

The  House  committee  was  established  by  an 
1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  259. 


SECESSION  121 

amendment  offered  to  a  routine  motion  for  the 
reference  of  the  President's  annual  message. 
The  amendment  provided  that  so  much  of  the 
message  "as  relates  to  the  present  perilous  con 
dition  of  the  country  be  referred  to  a  special 
committee  of  one  from  each  State."  The  amend 
ment  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  nearly  five  to 
one,  but  among  the  small  minority  were  num 
bered  Stevens  and  the  more  radical  anti-slavery 
men,  who  had  been  educated  by  the  experience 
of  previous  compromises  to  believe  in  their  utter 
futility. 

The  sessions  of  the  House  committee  were 
long  and  numerous,  and  its  proceedings  were 
interesting  chiefly  on  account  of  the  variety  of 
remedies  suggested  and  the  extreme  concessions 
which  its  members  were  willing  to  make  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  refer  to  a  few  of  the  more  important  proposi 
tions  in  order  to  appreciate  the  wide  scope  of 
the  inquiry  entered  upon  by  the  committee. 
Mr.  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  suggested  a  law  declaring 
the  inexpediency  of  abolishing  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  "unless  with  the  consent 
of  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia."  Mr. 
Houston  proposed  the  restoration  of  the  line  of 
36°  30',  which  was  the  line  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  and  Mr.  Taylor  asked  for  a  con 
stitutional  amendment  providing  that  only  per- 


122  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

sons  of  "the  Caucasian  race  and  of  pure  and 
unmixed  blood"  should  be  allowed  to  vote  for 
any  officer  of  the  national  government. 

The  proposition  submitted  by  Mr.  C.  F. 
Adams  was  of  far-reaching  importance,  and  it 
would  have  effectually  postponed  to  the  millen 
nium  the  peaceful  abolition  of  slavery  under 
law.  He  proposed  to  amend  the  Constitution 
so  that  no  future  amendment,  proposing  any 
interference  with  slavery,  "shall  originate  with 
any  State  that  does  not  recognize  that  relation 
within  its  own  limits,  or  shall  be  valid  without 
the  assent  of  every  one  of  the  States  composing 
the  Union."  The  extreme  character  of  this 
concession  established  Mr.  Adams's  high  esti 
mate  of  the  value  of  the  Union,  and  furnished 
material  proof  that  he  was  indulging  little  in 
rhetoric,  when,  somewhat  later,  in  a  speech  in 
the  House  in  defense  of  the  report  of  the  com 
mittee,  he  said:  "Kather  than  this  [a  division 
of  the  Union]  let  the  heavens  fall." 

The  remarkable  thing  in  connection  with  this 
amendment  was  that  it  received  nearly  the 
unanimous  support  of  the  committee.  There 
were  few  radical  propositions  made  in  favor  of 
slavery  which  a  majority  of  the  committee  were 
not  disposed  to  favor.  The  leading  recommen 
dations  of  its  report  included  Mr.  Adams's 
amendment,  the  repeal  of  the  so-called  personal 


SECESSION  123 

liberty  laws  in  the  free  States ;  the  admission  of 
New  Mexico  with  its  slave  laws ;  and  the  amend 
ment  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  so  that  a  person 
who  was  seized  under  the  claim  that  he  was  a 
slave  should  have  his  right  to  freedom  tried  by 
jury,  not  in  the  State  where  he  was  seized,  and 
of  which  he  might  be  a  free  white  citizen,  but 
in  the  slave  State  from  which  he  was  accused  of 
having  fled.1 

This,  then,  was  to  be  the  result  of  the  disrup 
tion  of  the  Democratic  party  and  the  triumph 
of  the  Kepublicans  upon  a  platform  hostile  to 
the  growth  of  slavery!  This  was  to  be  the 
outcome  of  the  first  national  verdict  rendered 
against  that  "institution"!  The  fugitive  slave 
law  was  to  be  armed  with  new  terrors  not  only 
against  the  slave,  but  also  against  free  American 
citizens  living  in  a  free  State,  and  the  Constitu 
tion  was  to  be  smeared  all  over  with  the  muni 
ments  of  slavery.  Stevens  had  voted  with  a 
very  small  minority  against  the  appointment  of 
the  committee,  and  he  remained  its  consistent 
foe  to  the  very  end. 

Not  long  after  its  appointment,  and  when 
propositions  of  all  sorts  were  being  referred 
to  it,  Stevens  supplied  a  name  for  the  com 
mittee  which  it  had  appeared  to  lack.  The 
"Committee  on  Incubation,"  he  called  it.  His 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  pp.  260,  261. 


124  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

attitude  upon  the  proposed  compromises  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  conjecture.  He  not 
only  opposed  by  his  vote  every  feature  of  the 
report,  but  he  made  a  speech  of  considerable 
length  in  the  House,  in  which  he  showed  little 
mercy  to  the  committee.  He  said  that,  when 
States  in  open  and  declared  rebellion  seized 
upon  public  forts  and  arsenals,  he  had  no  hope 
that  "concession,  humiliation,  and  compromise 
can  effect  anything  whatever."  He  alluded  to 
the  lack  of  a  compromising  spirit  on  the  part 
of  the  Southern  representatives,  as  shown  by 
their  vote  the  day  before  against  the  considera 
tion  of  the  bill  to  admit  Kansas,  "that  source 
of  all  our  woes."  The  time  for  compromises 
had  gone  by,  and  the  virtue  most  needed  in  that 
perilous  time  was  "courage,  calm  unwavering 
courage,  which  no  danger  can  appall."  If  states 
men,  "governed  by  such  qualities,  should  be 
found  at  the  head  of  this  nation  when  danger 
comes,  there  can  be  no  fear  for  the  result.  The 
Union  will  overcome  all  difficulties  and  last 
through  unnumbered  ages  to  bless  millions  of 
happy  freemen." 

He  did  not  believe  that  the  Southern  States 
were  to  be  "turned  from  their  deliberate  and 
stern  purpose  by  soft  words."  He  then  turned 
his  attention  to  Buchanan  in  a  somewhat  severer 
manner  than  he  had  been  accustomed  to  employ 


SECESSION  125 

towards  him.  He  had  usually  alluded  to  him 
as  "my  constituent,"  from  the  fact  that  the 
President's  home  was  in  Lancaster,  or  in  terms 
of  mock  eulogy  as  "our  intelligent  and  patriotic 
President."  But  the  occasion  was  too  solemn 
for  him  to  attempt  to  evoke  the  usual  laugh. 
He  resented  as  an  "atrocious  calumny "  the 
President's  charge,  that  the  "long  continued 
and  intemperate  interference  of  the  Northern 
people  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  South 
ern  States  "  was  responsible  for  the  crisis.  The 
President  well  knew  that  the  anti-slavery  party 
of  the  North  never  interfered  with  slavery  in 
the  States.  Search  the  records  of  the  legisla 
tures  and  party  conventions,  and  "you  will  find 
them  always  disclaiming  the  right  or  intention 
to  touch  slavery  where  it  existed."  He  dis 
missed  the  charge  as  a  "calumny  on  the  free 
men  of  the  North,"  made  by  one  "who,  during 
his  whole  political  life,  had  been  the  slave  of 
slavery."  He  thought  that  the  time  had  at  last 
arrived  for  determining  whether  secession  was 
a  rightful  act.  If  it  were,  "then  the  Union  is 
not  worth  preserving  for  a  single  day;  "  for  if 
the  emergency  then  existing  should  pass  away, 
"fancied  wrongs  would  constantly  arise"  and 
induce  States  to  secede.  He  then  made  a  pow 
erful  argument  against  the  right  of  secession, 
and  declared  that  the  South  had  no  just  griev- 


126  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

ance.  "Kather  than  show  repentance  for  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  all  its  conse 
quences,  I  would  see  this  government  crumble 
into  a  thousand  atoms.  If  I  cannot  be  a  free 
man,  let  me  cease  to  exist." 

Returning  to  the  committee  of  thirty -three,  he 
said  that  it  had  shown  its  estimate  of  Southern 
grievances  "by  a  most  delicate  piece  of  satire." 
As  a  remedy,  and  to  lead  back  the  rebellious 
States,  the  committee  offered  "to  admit  as  a 
State  about  250,000  square  miles  of  volcanic 
desert,  with  less  than  a  thousand  white  Anglo- 
Saxon  inhabitants  and  some  40,000  or  50,000 
Indians,  Mustees  and  Mexicans,  who  do  not  ask 
admission,  and  who  have  shown  their  capacity 
for  self-government  by  the  infamous  slave-code 
which  they  have  passed,  which  establishes  the 
most  cruel  kind  of  black  and  white  slavery." 
He  must  admit,  however,  that  Mr.  Corwin,  the 
chairman  of  the  committee,  seemed  "to  have 
become  enamored  of  peonage.  He  looks  upon 
it  as  a  benevolent  institution,  which  saves  the 
poor  man's  cow  to  furnish  milk  for  his  children 
by  selling  the  father  instead  of  the  cow."  The 
slave  States  would  be  much  better  off  in  the 
Union  than  out  of  it.  If  secession  became  ef 
fective,  there  would  be  "one  empire  wholly 
slave-holding  and  one  republic  wholly  free." 
While  we  should  faithfully  execute  the  present 


SECESSION  127 

compact,  "yet  if  it  should  be  torn  to  pieces  by 
rebels,  our  next  United  States  will  contain  no 
foot  of  ground  on  which  a  slave  can  tread,  no 
breath  of  air  which  a  slave  can  breathe.  Our 
neighboring  slave  empire  must  consider  how  it 
will  affect  their  peculiar  institution.  They  will 
be  surrounded  with  freedom,  with  the  whole 
civilized  world  scowling  upon  them." 

Mr.  Dawes,  who  was  a  member  of  Congress 
at  the  time,  has  preserved  a  striking  picture 
of  the  effect  of  this  speech.  "No  one,"  says 
Mr.  Dawes,  "could  forget  the  scene  in  which 
it  occurred,  though  all  I  can  say  of  it  and  of 
him  seems  tame  enough  without  the  inspiration 
of  the  occasion  and  of  his  presence.  This 
speech  was  delivered  in  that  last  session  in  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration,  after  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  when  the  House  was  more  like  a 
powder  magazine  than  a  deliberative  assembly. 
His  denunciation  of  the  plotters  of  treason  to 
their  face  was  terrible,  and  his  expose  of  the 
barbarism  of  the  so-called  civilization  behind 
them  was  awful.  .  .  .  Nearly  fifty  Southern 
members  rose  to  their  feet,  and  rushed  towards 
him  with  curses  and  threats  of  personal  violence. 
As  many  of  his  friends  gathered  around  him, 
and  moving  him  in  a  sort  of  hollow  square  to 
the  space  in  front  of  the  speaker,  opened  before 
his  assailants,  and  stood  guard  over  him  while 


128  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

he  arraigned  the  slavocracy  in  an  indictment 
for  its  crimes  against  humanity,  surpassing 
in  severity  even  the  great  arraignment  by 
Mr.  Sumner.  He  was  then  an  old  man  ap 
proaching  seventy,  on  whose  frame  and  voice 
time  had  already  made  sad  inroads,  but  still 
standing  erect  and  firm  as  a  man  of  thirty -five. 
Calm  and  self-possessed  as  a  judge,  he  lashed 
them  into  a  fury,  and  then  bade  them  compose 
themselves  at  their  leisure.  The  excitement 
aroused  by  his  fiery  denunciation  and  defiant 
scorn  beggars  all  description,  and  can  live  only 
in  the  memory  of  those  who  witnessed  it." 1 
,>  Stevens  was  not  a  man  to  palter  with  a  great 
*»  crisis.  His  mind  was  eminently  practical.  He 
had  little  of  the  theorist  or  dreamer  in  his 
nature,  and  while  the  remedy  which  he  might 
prescribe  might  not  afford  the  wisest  practical 
solution,  he  was  unsurpassed  in  his  keenness  of 
vision  and  in  his  capacity  to  diagnose  correctly 
a  national  condition.  While  he  utterly  repudi 
ated  the  recommendations  of  the  committee  of 
thirty-three,  as  contrary  to  the  principles  by 
which  he  governed  his  political  conduct,  he  saw 
that  not  only  were  they  wrong  in  theory,  but 
that  they  aggravated  instead  of  removing  the 
difficulty.  His  brave  words  did  not  avail  to 

i  MS.  Dartmouth  College  address :  Thaddeus  Stevens  as  a 
Leader  in  a  Great  Crisis. 


SECESSION  129 

defeat  the  compromise.  The  most  important 
of  the  propositions  of  the  committee  were 
adopted.  By  more  than  the  two- thirds  vote 
required  by  the  Constitution  the  House  passed 
an  amendment  even  more  strongly  guarding 
slavery  than  did  that  which  had  been  put  for 
ward  by  Mr.  Adams.  The  desired  amend 
ment  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  was  also  passed, 
but  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  New  Mexico 
failed.1 

It  is  difficult  at  this  distance  to  see  what  the 
authors  of  this  astounding  surrender  to  slavery 
hoped  to  gain  by  it.  The  radicalism  of  Stevens 
contained  vastly  the  purer  and  also  the  more 
practical  wisdom.  The  secession  programme 
had  been  steadily  carried  out.  State  after  State 
had  adopted  what  was  solemnly  termed  "the 
ordinance  of  secession."  More  than  two  weeks 
before  the  House  voted  upon  the  recommenda 
tions  of  the  committee  the  Southern  Congress 
had  assembled,  and  its  President,  Howell  Cobb, 
had  declared  that  secession  "is  now  a  fixed  and 
irrevocable  fact,  and  the  separation  is  perfect, 
complete,  and  perpetual."  Before  the  vote  was 
taken  in  the  House,  Jefferson  Davis  had  been 

1  Mr.  Elaine,  usually  so  accurate,  is  in  error  in  his  statement 
that  the  bill  to  admit  New  Mexico  passed  the  House.  Twenty 
Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  267.  It  was  laid  upon  the  table, 
where  it  apparently  always  remained.  Congressional  Globe, 
36th  Congress,  2d  session,  p.  1327. 


130  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

chosen  President  of  the  Southern  Bepublic, 
his  cabinet  had  been  appointed,  and,  so  far  as 
governmental  organization  was  concerned,  the 
movement  had  been  consummated.  Nearly  a 
month  before  that  time  Stevens  had  spoken 
his  brave  words,  and  had  protested  against  the 
"cowardly  counsels"  that  would  operate  to  "un 
nerve  the  people."  Instead  of  still  further 
humiliating  the  spirit  of  the  North  by  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Corwin  compromise  measures,  it 
would  seem  too  clear  for  doubt  that  the  time  had 
come  for  action  of  an  opposite  character.  The 
proceedings  of  Congress  at  that  grave  crisis  of 
our  history  were  in  keeping  with  the  conduct 
of  President  Buchanan,  and  certainly  cannot  be 
regarded  to-day  with  pride.  Its  members  were 
unquestionably  patriotic  men;  but  they  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  peril, 
and  they  lacked  a  competent  leader.  Possibly 
the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  aggressive 
leadership.  And  while  the  old  remedy,  which 
had  been  applied  so  often  with  only  temporary 
success,  was  again  prescribed,  and  wise  men 
were  endeavoring  in  vain  to  put  off  the  "irre 
pressible  conflict "  by  new  concessions,  the  man 
for  the  crisis  sat  by,  protesting  and  threatening, 
waiting  for  his  time  to  come. 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  old  forms 


CHARACTER  OF  SLAVERY  AGITATION    131 

of  the  slavery  question,  which  had  for  forty 
years  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  American 
people,  were  displaced  and  a  new  political  chap 
ter  opened.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
people  living  in  the  South  during  the  period 
of  the  controversy  were  not  responsible  for  the 
existence  of  slavery.  It  had  come  down  to  them 
from  a  former  generation.  Most  of  the  wicked 
profits  of  its  establishment  had  gone  to  the 
owners  of  foreign  ships,  and  some  of  them  to 
people  who  lived  in  the  North.  The  "institu 
tion  "  had  existed  in  New  England,  and  had 
vanished  for  the  very  good  reason  that  it  did 
not  pay.  It  had  at  one  time  promised  also  to 
disappear  from  the  South  for  the  same  reason. 
In  most  if  not  all  of  the  slave  States,  during  the 
years  which  immediately  followed  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  slave  property  was  not  pro 
fitable,  and  in  some  of  them  it  was  believed  to 
be  an  absolute  burden.  Some  of  the  greatest 
of  the  earlier  Southern  statesmen,  either  during 
their  lives  or  by  will,  gave  freedom  to  their 
slaves.  The  very  convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution  conferred  upon  Congress  the  power 
to  abolish  the  slave  trade  after  1808,  and  with 
out  the  supply  of  slaves  which  came  from  impor 
tation  it  was  believed  that  the  institution  would 
languish  and  die.  At  the  same  time,  Congress 
passed  the  great  ordinance  dedicating  to  free- 


132  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

dom  the  vast  territory  given  to  the  government 
by  the  States,  and  chiefly  by  the  slave  State  of 
Virginia.  But  various  causes,  and  chiefly  the 
increased  production  of  cotton,  had  of  late 
years  greatly  augmented  the  value  of  slaves. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  annual  pro 
fits  of  slavery  are  conservatively  estimated  to 
have  been  $300,000,000,  which,  according  to 
the  rate  then  prevailing,  represented  the  inter 
est  upon  a  capital  of  15,000,000,000.  If  to 
this  enormous  amount  is  added  the  value  of 
the  plantations  and  other  property,  which  was 
believed  to  rest  to  a  considerable  extent  upon 
the  perpetuation  of  slavery,  a  sum  is  produced 
which  represents  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
valuation  of  the  property  of  the  slave  States. 

The  Southern  people  had  been  born  and  nur 
tured  in  the  belief  that  slavery  had  a  foundation 
in  the  Scriptures.  They  had  heard  its  benefi 
cence  proclaimed  from  the  pulpit,  and  had  lis- 
ened  to  sermons  contrasting  the  deplorable  con 
dition  of  the  negroes  in  Africa  with  the  happy 
lot  of  slaves  upon  the  Southern  plantations.  So 
long  as  slavery  appeared  to  be  simply  a  divine 
institution  it  promised  to  disappear ;  but  when 
it  began  to  pay,  the  enterprise  of  the  statesmen 
who  represented  it  was  at  once  exerted  for  its 
extension  and  for  laws  that  would  make  their 
property  more  secure.  Undoubtedly,  too,  the 


CHARACTER  OF  SLAVERY  AGITATION     133 

agitation  of  the  most  extreme  abolitionists  pro 
duced  an  apprehension  among  the  Southern 
people  which  caused  them  to  distrust  the  suffi 
ciency  of  constitutional  safeguards  alone  for  the 
preservation  of  their  institution.  They  felt  im 
pelled  to  extend  the  sway  of  slavery,  not  pri 
marily  for  the  profits  that  it  would  produce  in 
the  new  territory  which  might  be  acquired,  but 
to  maintain  their  political  ascendency  in  the 
country  and  to  secure  the  safety  which  that 
would  bring. 

It  is  impossible  to  question  the  high  moral 
quality  or  the  wisdom  of  the  abolition  move 
ment  as  a  whole.  It  contributed  indispensable 
strength  to  the  forces  which  finally  gave  to  the 
slave  his  freedom.  But  too  much  of  the  agita 
tion  was  simply  disruptive  in  its  tendency,  and 
was  marked  by  the  affected  superiority  and  the 
narrow  arrogance  so  often  seen  in  those  who 
follow  reform  as  they  would  follow  a  trade. 
The  abuse  and  vilification,  which  a  few  irrecon 
cilable  spirits  impartially  bestowed  upon  the 
South  and  upon  every  Northern  statesman  who 
desired  the  ultimate  end  of  freedom  and  labored 
to  discover  some  peaceful  and  effective  means 
for  its  accomplishment,  tended  less  strongly  to 
freedom  than  to  disunion  and  war.  Violence 
made  few  converts  and  many  enemies,  and  doubt 
less  to  a  considerable  extent  neutralized  the 


134  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

efforts  of  those  who  saw  more  efficacy  in  rational 
and  temperate  methods,  such,  for  instance,  as 
Lincoln  employed,  than  in  the  calling  of  bad 
names.  It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  when  the 
test  came,  in  the  secession  winter  of  1860-61, 
the  abolition  sentiment  should  have  shown  so 
little  strength;  that  its  representatives  should 
have  been  denied  a  hearing  in  the  most  liberal 
cities  of  the  North ;  that  two  thirds  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Representatives  should  have 
voted  for  more  odious  compromises  with  slavery 
than  had  ever  before  been  seriously  proposed 
by  its  most  extreme  advocate,  and  that  the  Re 
publicans  of  the  Senate  and  House  in  creat 
ing  territorial  governments  for  the  magnificent 
domains  now  included  in  Dakota,  Colorado, 
and  Nevada,  unanimously  recognized  the  very 
principle  which  Webster  had  enunciated  in  his 
famous  Seventh  of  March  speech  with  regard 
to  New  Mexico,  and  for  which  he  had  been  so 
bitterly  condemned. 

The  small  class  to  which  I  have  referred  had 
indeed  contributed  in  no  small  measure  to  the 
causes  which  produced  secession  and  war,  but 
they  were  powerless  to  keep  the  nation  from 
being  rent  asunder,  or  to  preserve  the  slave 
from  the  hopeless  fate  which  would  have  been 
his  under  a  republic  dedicated  to  slavery.  The 
force  that  rescued  the  slave  and  that  saved  the 


CHARACTER  OF  SLAVERY  AGITATION    135 

country  was  the  sentiment  of  union  ;  and  the 
man  who  more  than  any  other  had  created  that 
sentiment  was  the  great  statesman  whose  last 
days  were  made  bitter  by  the  savage  assaults  of 
the  abolitionists.  It  was  the  principles  which 
Webster  so  powerfully  proclaimed  that  raised 
and  animated  our  armies ;  preserved  the  govern 
ment,  and  made  it  possible  for  the  slave  to  have 
his  freedom;  and  from  the  attacks  that  were  so 
unjustly  made,  history  has  not  been  slow  in 
according  him  a  magnificent  vindication.  If 
Washington  created,  Webster  equally  preserved, 
the  Union. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LEADER   OF   THE   HOUSE 

President  Lincoln  was  not  long  in  displaying, 
after  his  inauguration,  the  moderate  spirit  which 
distinguished  his  administration.  It  was  his 
great  characteristic  to  refrain  from  any  attempt 
to  force  public  opinion,  but  rather  to  permit 
it  to  grow,  and  to  take  advantage  of  it  at  the 
opportune  moment.  He  endeavored  at  the  out 
set  to  unite  his  own  party,  and  four  of  the  seven 
members  of  his  cabinet  were  taken  from  those 
candidates  who,  after  himself,  received  the  high 
est  number  of  votes  for  the  presidential  nomina 
tion  in  the  Chicago  convention.  Stevens  had 
strong  support  for  a  cabinet  place,  and  after 
Cameron's  withdrawal  as  a  candidate  he  had  an 
excellent  chance  of  success;  but  Cameron  finally 
reentered  the  contest,  and  his  prominence  as  a 
presidential  candidate  secured  him  the  position 
of  secretary  of  war.  Stevens  did  not  relish 
being  set  aside  for  a  man  with  whom  he  was 
not  friendly,  and  appears  to  have  got  what  con 
solation  he  could  out  of  criticising  the  composi- 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  137 

tion  of  the  cabinet.1  The  President,  however, 
had  made  a  safe  choice.  He  had  secured  ad 
visers  who  were  believed  to  hold  moderate  opin 
ions,  which  was  a  great  advantage  when,  in 
view  of  Northern  sentiment,  it  was  vital  that  the 
war  should  have  no  appearance  of  being  one  of 
aggression  on  the  part  of  the  national  govern 
ment.  They  maintained  also  a  high  average  of 
ability,  and,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  were 
well  fitted  for  the  work  assigned  them. 

Lincoln  took  great  care  to  avoid  giving  of 
fense  in  his  inaugural,  and  the  caution  which 
he  displayed  during  his  first  month  of  office 
went  far  towards  allaying  the  fears  of  Northern 
Democrats  that  his  election  was  an  act  of  hos 
tility  to  the  South.  The  attack  of  the  Confed 
erate  forces  upon  Fort  Sumter  brought  the 
waiting  policy  to  an  end,  and  rallied  the  people 
of  the  North  to  a  defense  of  the  national  author 
ity,  which  had  been  violently  assailed.  The 
sound  of  hostile  guns  dispelled  the  necessity  for 
guarded  action  and  made  Lincoln's  duty  clear. 
He  had  the  North  behind  him  upon  the  issue  of 
not  permitting  the  Union  to  be  dismembered 
and  two  independent  and  probably  hostile  gov- 

1  He  said  the  cabinet  was  composed  of  an  assortment  of 
rivals  whom*  the  President  appointed  from  courtesy,  one  stump 
speaker  from  Indiana  and  two  representatives  of  the  Blair 
family.  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  286. 


138  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

ernments  established  upon  its  ruins.  That  was 
the  principle  for  which  he  fought.  He  could 
wait  until  the  sentiment  of  the  North  became 
equally  strong  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  either 
as  a  necessary  measure  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  or  from  hatred  of  the  institution  it 
self,  and  in  the  mean  time  he  could  endure  the 
abuse  of  those  who  desired  a  more  radical  course. 
He  issued  a  call  for  Congress  to  meet  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  apparently  intending  to  permit 
the  issue  to  ripen,  so  that  Congress  should  clearly 
perceive  the  necessity  of  preparing  for  war.  He 
evidently  did  not  desire  the  paralyzing  effect  of 
further  attempts  to  compromise  a  hopeless  situ 
ation. 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  protracted  strug 
gle  in  the  preceding  House  an  organization  was 
at  once  effected.  Mr.  Grow  was  chosen  speaker. 
The  loss  of  the  Democratic  members  from  the 
seceding  States  left  the  Republicans  with  a 
large  majority.  Stevens  was  made  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  which  was 
the  position  of  leadership.  But  he  needed  no 
formal  christening  as  leader.  He  was,  says  Mr. 
Blaine,  "the  natural  leader,  who  assumed  his 
place  by  common  consent."  l  Events  had  com 
pletely  vindicated  the  position  he  had  taken  the 
preceding  winter.  The  time  for  compromise  had 
1  Blaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  325. 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  139 

gone  by,  and  the  occasion  demanded  a  man  of 
direct  and  positive  force.  At  that  time  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  had  the  juris 
diction  now  exercised  by  the  same  committee 
together  with  that  of  the  Committee  on  Appro 
priations,  which  had  not  then  been  created. 
Thus  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  committee  \fi 
charged  with  the  duty  of  devising  means  for 
raising  the  revenue  to  prosecute  a  great  war, 
and  also  having  charge  of  the  appropriation 
bills  which  directed  how  the  money  should  be 
spent.  The  burden  was  tremendous. 

The  message  which  the  President  sent  to  Con 
gress  presented  the  situation  most  judiciously 
as  well  as  forcibly,  and  was,  if  possible,  a  more 
successful  political  document  than  even  his 
inaugural  address.  He  asked  Congress  to  place 
at  the  disposal  of  the  government  400,000  men 
and  8400,000,000.  "That  number  of  men," 
he  said,  "is  about  one  tenth  of  those  of  proper 
age  within  the  regions  where  apparently  all  are 
willing  to  engage,  and  the  sum  is  less  than  a 
twenty -third  part  of  the  money  value  owned  by 
the  men  who  seem  ready  to  devote  the  whole." 
He  thought  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  giving 
an  appropriate  name  to  the  movement  against 
the  government.  The  Southern  people  had 
been  loyal  to  the  Union,  and  their  leaders  had 
disguised  from  them  the  real  character  of  the 


140  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

proceeding  by  employing  a  term  which  had  to 
j  their  ears  a  constitutional  sound.  The  move- 
*  ment,  rightly  named,  Lincoln  said,  was  "rebel 
lion"  instead  of  "secession."  This  doctrine  of 
"secession"  had  "drugged  and  insidiously  de 
bauched"  the  people  of  the  South  for  thirty 
years.  He  expressed  the  deepest  regret  that 
he  found  the  duty  of  employing  the  war  power 
of  the  government  forced  upon  him,  but  he  said 
that  he  "must  perform  this  duty  or  surrender 
the  existence  of  the  government."  This  mes 
sage  awoke  an  enthusiastic  response  in  Con 
gress.  A  large  majority  of  both  Houses  were 
patriotic  men  who  would  go  to  any  length  in 
support  of  the  policy  of  the  President,  and  they 
at  once  set  to  work  to  meet  the  enormous  de 
mands  that  were  made. 

The  position  occupied  by  Stevens  at  the  head 
of  the  great  financial  committee  of  that  House 
of  Congress  which  has  the  sole  constitutional 
power  to  originate  revenue  bills  most  intimately 
associates  him  with  all  measures  for  raising 
or  spending  money  to  suppress  the  rebellion. 
The  details  of  those  measures  would  be  irksome 
to  the  general  reader,  and  are  far  too  volumi 
nous  for  insertion  here.  But  a  reference  to  the 
most  important  of  them  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  his  work.  The 
request  of  Lincoln  for  $400,000,000  was  modi- 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  141 

fied  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  who,  in 
his  detailed  estimates,  reduced  the  amount  by 
nearly  882,000,000.  But  $318,000,000  was  still 
a  considerable  sum  of  money  to  raise  from  two 
thirds  of  the  country  at  war  with  the  other 
third.  It  was  five  times  the  ordinary  annual 
revenue  which  the  government  had  before  that  / 
time  raised  from  the  entire  country,  and  seven 
times  the  actual  annual  revenue  during  the  de 
ficit-producing  years  of  James  Buchanan.  The 
national  credit,  too,  was  at  the  lowest  ebb,  as 
a  result,  not  perhaps  so  much  of  civil  war,  as  of 
the  incompetency  which  during  four  years  had 
distinguished  the  management  of  the  treasury. 
From  1857  to  1861  the  average  annual  excess 
of  the  expenditures  over  the  revenues  had  been 
about  820,000,000,  which  would  correspond 
with  a  deficit  of  at  least  1120,000,000  on  the 
financial  scale  on  which  the  government  was 
conducted  in  1898,  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Spanish  war.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
this  enormous  deficiency,  so  long  continued, 
should  have  obliterated  almost  the  last  vestige 
of  credit,  and  that  when  Lincoln  was  confronted 
with  an  empty  and  yawning  treasury,  he  found 
the  borrowing  capacity  of  the  government  nearly 
exhausted. 

During  the  preceding  Congress  a  law  had  been 
passed,  authorizing  an  issue  of  §10,000,000  in 


142  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

treasury  notes  to  meet  certain  current  obliga 
tions.  The  practical  result  of  this  issue  proved 
that  by  January  1,  1861,  the  credit  of  the  gov 
ernment  had  reached  a  twelve  per  cent  basis. 
The  new  tariff  act,  which  went  into  effect  on 
April  1,  greatly  increased  import  duties,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  decrease  in  importations 
anticipated  on  account  of  the  war,  it  promised 
to  augment  the  revenues.  Secretary  Chase,  by 
great  effort,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  banks  which 
patriotically  cooperated  with  him  to  repair  the 
government's  credit,  was  able  to  raise  at  inter 
vals  a  few  millions  of  dollars;  but  on  July  1 
the  cash  in  the  treasury  fell  about  $30,000,000 
short  of  loans  soon  to  mature  and  of  unpaid 
appropriations  for  the  previous  fiscal  year.  In 
his  estimate  of  expenditures  of  $318,000,000, 
which  the  secretary  sent  to  Congress,  he  in 
cluded  the  regular  appropriations  already  made. 
The  probable  amount  required  to  sustain  mili- 
,stary  operations  was  put  at  $217,000,000,  and 
the  interest  charge  on  the  new  debt,  the  deficiency 
for  the  preceding  year,  and  the  treasury  notes 
about  to  mature  or  already  due,  would  absorb 
more  than  $40,000,000  in  addition.  Congress 
was  then  asked  to  appropriate  about  $260,000,- 
000  of  new  money,  and  to  provide  new  means 
for  raising  that  amount,  together  with  the  defi 
ciency  between  the  appropriations  already  made, 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  143 

and  the  income  already  provided  for  the  current 
year.  It  was  asked  to  supplement  existing  and 
most  inadequate  sources  of  revenue  so  that  in 
all  180,000,000  might  be  derived  from  taxation, 
and  to  authorize  the  raising  of  $240,000,000  by 
loans. 

It  was  doubtless  due  in  part  to  Mr.  Chase's  ** 
lack  of  experience  in  financial  matters  —  a  de 
fect  which  the  enormous  burdens  of  his  position 
speedily  repaired  —  that  he  recommended  rais 
ing  so  small  a  portion  of  the  expenditures  by 
current  taxation,  and  that  in  time  of  war  a 
wealthy  people  were  asked  to  pay  a  smaller 
tax  per  head  than  they  have  at  any  subsequent 
time  been  called  upon  to  contribute  in  time  of 
peace. 

Mr.  Chase  had  been  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
Senate,  and  had  received  a  considerable  vote 
for  the  presidential  nomination  in  the  Chicago 
convention  of  1860.  He  was  broad-minded, 
patriotic,  and  of  absolute  integrity.  He  was 
well  fitted,  as  Horace  Greeley  said,  to  "com 
mand  in  the  highest  degree  the  public  confi 
dence."  But  he  lacked  the  necessary  experi 
ence  and  training  to  fit  him  for  the  difficult 
task  to  which  he  was  called.  The  position  was 
not  attractive  to  him,  and  he  at  first  declined 
it  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  fitted  for  it 
"either  by  education  or  habits,"  and  because 


144  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  appropriate  place  for  him  was  the  Senate 
to  which  he  had  just  been  chosen  again.1  He 
finally  consented  to  accept  the  office  because, 
by  refusing  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the 
President,  he  might  seem  to  "  shrink  from  cares 
and  labors  for  the  common  good  which  cannot 
be  honorably  shunned."2  The  sequel  proved 
that  he  was  endowed  with  many  great  qualities 
for  the  position,  and  that  while  it  was  expen 
sive  to  the  government  to  supply  during  the 
first  years  of  the  war  his  defects  in  special 
training,  he  is  perhaps  outranked  only  by  Alex 
ander  Hamilton  and  John  Sherman  among  our 
secretaries  of  the  treasury. 

Congress  at  once  proceeded  to  the  work  of 
passing  the  necessary  laws,  and  never  was  a 
response  more  promptly  made.  Within  three 
days  after  he  had  been  appointed  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  Stevens 
reported  a  bill  to  the  House,  authorizing  the 
secretary  to  borrow  1250,000,000.  On  the  next 
day  he  called  up  the  bill  under  a  suspension  of 
the  rules  and  with  debate  limited  to  one  hour. 
This  time  was  chiefly  occupied  by  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham,  of  Ohio,  who  made  a  noisy  and  intem 
perate  attack  upon  the  President,  which  Stevens 
contemptuously  permitted  to  go  without  reply, 

1  Bolles,  Financial  History,  1861-1885,  p.  103. 

2  Letter  of  resignation  to  the  governor  of  Ohio. 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  145 

and  the  bill  was  then  passed  with  only  five 
dissenting  votes. 

Stevens  immediately  followed  this  bill  with 
another  appropriating  8160,000,000  for  the 
army.  This  measure  encountered  some  oppo 
sition  in  debate,  and  the  objection  was  made 
that  the  Military  Committee  had  not  yet  recom 
mended  the  increase  of  the  army,  for  the  main 
tenance  of  which  the  large  appropriation  was 
proposed.  Stevens  replied  that  he  was  only 
granting  the  demands  of  the  administration. 
He  proposed  to  make  the  appropriations  so  that 
Congress  could  adjourn  at  the  earliest  possible 
day.  He  assumed  that  the  Military  Commit 
tee  would  grant  to  the  President  what  he  asked ; 
but  he  caustically  intimated  that  if  it  should 
see  fit  to  draw  its  bill  upon  different  lines,  the 
bill  would  be  rejected.  The  House  followed 
Stevens  at  once,  and  passed  the  bill,  as  it  also 
did  the  naval  bill,  carrying  $30,000,000  more, 
which  Stevens  called  up  on  the  same  day. 
Within  one  week  from  the  day  on  which  Con- 
gress  was  called  together,  the  House  had  voted 
substantially  all  the  enormous  sums  of  money 
asked  for  by  the  President  to  carry  on  the  war, 
and  had  authorized  a  debt  far  greater  than  had 
rested  upon  the  government  at  any  time  in  its 
history. 

The  work  of  preparing  the  revenue  bill  was 


146  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

much  more  difficult.  Theories  of  taxation  are 
apt  to  be  numerous  and  contradictory.  But  the 
difficulty  in  formulating  such  a  measure  is  not 
so  much  with  theories  as  with  the  practical  ap 
plication  of  them.  The  fish  dealer,  who  wrote 
to  Sir  Kobert  Peel  that  he  believed  in  free  trade 
in  everything  except  herring,  illustrated  the  com 
mon  tendency  to  modify  theory  so  as  to  conform 
with  self-interest,  and  also  the  practical  diffi 
culties  which  representatives  have  to  encounter 
in  framing  revenue  bills.  A  general  tax,  levied 
equally  upon  all,  is  one  which  in  a  great  emer 
gency  no  one,  unless  a  doctrinaire,  would  have 
sufficient  interest  to  oppose;  but  a  tax  levied 
upon  the  banker  or  the  farmer  or  the  brewer 
falls  with  special  weight  and  inevitably  provokes 
protests  from  the  affected  classes  even  in  time 
of  war,  and  according  to  their  number  and  in 
fluence  they  are  apt  to  be  heard  in  Congress. 

Stevens  acted,  however,  with  the  expedition 
suited  to  the  emergency  and  forestalled  a  good 
many  of  the  ordinary  political  difficulties  by 
*  prompt  action.  With  very  little  delay  he  brought 
the  revenue  bills  into  the  House.  They  in 
creased  the  duty  upon  sugar  and  a  great  many 
other  articles,  imposed  very  moderate  duties 
upon  tea  and  coffee,  levied  a  direct  tax  of 
$30,000,000  upon  real  estate,  which  was  appor 
tioned  in  the  constitutional  way  among  the  States 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  147 

according  to  population,  and  provided  an  income 
tax  upon  all  incomes  of  over  eight  hundred  dol 
lars  derived  from  personal  property,  evidently 
upon  the  theory  that  such  a  tax  would  not  be 
direct.  It  was  estimated  that  these  taxes  would 
produce  about  850,000,000  a  year,  an  estimate 
which,  it  was  afterwards  discovered,  did  not 
make  sufficient  allowance  for  the  depressing  in 
fluence  of  war  upon  business,  and  was  therefore 
much  too  great. 

The  direct  tax  upon  real  estate  aroused  the  v 
opposition  of  members  who  represented  agricul 
tural  districts,  and  this  feature  was  again  and 
again  referred  back  to  the  committee.  Colfax 
and  Conkling  were  especially  hostile.  The  de 
bate  was  most  animated,  and  it  was  only  after 
consenting  to  reduce  the  tax  by  $10,000,000 
and  portraying  with  all  his  force  the  needs  of 
the  country  that  Stevens  was  able  to  secure  its 
passage.  He  himself  represented  one  of  the 
wealthiest  farming  districts  in  the  country,  com 
posed  of  what  he  called  "a  close  German  popu 
lation;"  but  he  declared  that  he  would  vote  for 
the  bill  and  submit  himself  "to  their  judgment, 
their  patriotism,  their  good  sense,"  and  if  they 
saw  fit  to  reject  him  he  would  abide  by  the  de 
cision  "without  a  murmur  and  without  regret." 
While  no  man  could  be  more  uncompromising 
than  Stevens  when  he  had  a  large  majority  at 


148  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

his  back,  he  showed  also  by  his  management  of 
the  direct  tax  that  no  one  could  be  more  con 
ciliatory. 

•J  The  "Crittenden  resolution,"  so  called  from 
its  venerable  author,  aimed  to  set  forth  the  ob 
jects  of  the  war,  and  was  perhaps  the  most  im 
portant  measure  of  this  session,  not  of  a  finan 
cial  or  military  character.  It  declared  that 
"the  war  is  not  waged  in  any  spirit  of  oppres 
sion,  or  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjuga 
tion,"  or  to  interfere  with  "the  rights  or  estab 
lished  institutions  "  of  the  Southern  States,  but 
to  maintain  the  Constitution  and  "preserve  the 
dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the  several  States 
unimpaired,"  and  that  after  the  attainment  of 
these  objects  "the  war  ought  to  cease."  This 
resolution  passed  the  Senate  and  House  with 
practical  unanimity  so  far  as  the  Republicans 
were  concerned.  But  it  did  not  have  the  sup- 
J  port  of  Stevens,  who  stood  almost  alone  in  with 
holding  his  vote.  He  believed  that  the  time 
had  gone  by  for  preambles  and  explanations, 
and  that  the  nation  should  reserve  to  itself  the 
largest  liberty  in  waging  the  war  which  had 
been  forced  upon  it.  The  contest  had  not  pro 
ceeded  far  before  the  principles  of  the  resolu 
tion  were  violated,  and  at  the  opening  of  the 
very  next  session,  when  it  was  proposed  to  re 
affirm  the  resolution,  Stevens  moved  to  lay  the 


LEADER  OF  THE   HOUSE  149 

matter  on  the  table,  and  the  House  sustained 
his  motion. 

Stevens  vigorously  supported  the  "confisca 
tion"  bill  which  confiscated  property  "used  for 
insurrectionary  purposes,"  and  contained  a  spe 
cial  provision,  in  effect  giving  freedom  to  slaves 
who  were  employed  upon  any  fort  or  intrench- 
ment  or  in  any  military  or  naval  service  against 
the  government.  The  bill  was  very  much  to 
Stevens 's  liking.  He  had  seen  the  fugitives 
skurrying  from  the  field  of  Bull  Run,  and  he 
was  not  disposed  to  talk  much  about  the  Con 
stitution.  He  justified  the  measure,  because, 
under  the  laws  of  war,  it  would  weaken  the 
enemy,  and  if  it  was  justifiable  to  destroy  an 
enemy  it  certainly  was  permissible  to  weaken 
him  by  taking  away  his  means  of  aggression. 
The  time  had  come  when  the  laws  of  war  should 
govern  our  conduct.  He  declared  that,  when 
we  had  conquered  a  slave,  we  should  never 
shrink  from  saying  "Go  and  be  free."  He 
would  not  say  that  the  war  was  made  for  that 
purpose.  "Ask  them  who  made  the  war  what 
is  its  object."  In  the  course  of  this  speech  he 
declared  that  he  did  not  like  the  Crittenden 
resolution,  because  it  looked  like  "an  apology 
from  us  in  saying  what  were  the  objects  of  the 
war."  In  his  view  the  one  object  of  the  war 
was  "to  subdue  the  rebels."  He  did  not  believe 


150  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  Northern  people  would  long  stand  by  and 
see  their  sons  and  brothers  slaughtered  by 
rebels,  "  and  forbear  to  call  upon  their  enemies 
to  be  our  friends  and  to  help  us  in  subduing 
them."  He  predicted  that,  if  the  war  continued, 
the  time  would  come  when  every  slave  "belong 
ing  to  a  rebel  .  .  .  will  be  called  upon  to  aid 
us  in  war  against  their  masters  and  to  restore 
the  Union."  The  House  did  not  follow  him  at 
that  time,  and  rejected  the  bill;  but  at  a  later 
time  it  verified  his  prediction  by  passing  the  bill, 
and  thus  placing  the  nation  upon  his  ground. 

Congress  adjourned  upon  August  6.  In  a 
session  of  hardly  a  month  it  had  transacted  an 
extraordinary  amount  of  business.  It  had  been 
made  to  appreciate  the  gravity  of  the  crisis  by 
an  object  lesson  in  war,  for  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  occurred  during  the  session,  and,  as  a  result 
of  that  bloody  disaster,  the  capital  itself  was 
for  the  moment  believed  to  be  in  danger.  It 
devoted  its  attention  almost  exclusively  to  the 
war,  and  generously  supported  the  Administra 
tion.  It  provided  for  the  increase  of  the  army 
to  half  a  million  of  men.  It  greatly  augmented 
the  navy.  It  provided  a  variety  of  new  taxes, 
estimated  to  add  $50,000,000  each  year  to  the 
revenue.  It  authorized  a  loan,  the  magnitude 
of  which  had  never  been  approached  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country,  and  it  passed  appropriation 


LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  151 

bills  carrying  1265,000,000,  —an  amount  equal 
to  four  times  the  annual  peace  appropriations 
of  that  time.  Upon  nearly  all  these  momen 
tous  questions  it  devolved  upon  Stevens  to  lead, 
and  the  results  showed  that  he  had  not  begun 
badly. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   LEGAL   TENDER 

THE  war  began  in  earnest  during  the  special 
session  of  Congress,  and  it  did  not  begin  aus 
piciously  for  the  Union.  The  disaster  at  Bull 
Eun  did  not,  however,  shake  the  purpose  of  the 
North.  It  only  proved  that  the  contest  was  to 
be  no  dress  parade  affair,  and  thereby  it  in 
spired  new  efforts.  The  navy  had  been  greatly 
strengthened.  The  offer  of  enlistments  was  far 
in  excess  of  the  number  of  troops  called  for, 
and  before  the  end  of  1861  more  than  700,000 
men  had  been  mustered  into  the  service.1  But 
no  decisive  victory  had  yet  come  to  the  Ameri 
can  arms,  and  the  affair  at  Ball's  Bluff  was 
hardly  less  disheartening  than  had  been  the 
defeat  at  Bull  Run. 

The  enormous  preparation  demanded,  of 
course,  enormous  expenditures,  even  in  excess 
of  the  great  amounts  appropriated  at  the  special 
session.  It  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the 
working  of  the  measures  with  which  Stevens 

1  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  37th  Congress,  2d  session. 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  153 

was  identified  at  the  special  session  of  Congress 
and  the  demands  upon  the  treasury  for  which 
he  was  to  be  asked  to  provide  at  the  first  regular 
session. 

Capital  is  proverbially  as  timid  as  men  are 
brave,  and  the  danger  that  inspires  the  one  is 
very  apt  to  put  the  other  to  flight.  If  in  the 
preceding  winter,  in  time  of  peace,  the  govern 
ment  had  been  able  to  borrow  a  few  paltry  mil 
lions  only  at  an  extortionate  rate  of  interest, 
how  could  its  friends  now  hope,  since  upon  a 
broken  credit  there  had  been  superadded  the 
financial  disturbance  of  a  gigantic  civil  war, 
that  it  could  obtain  the  hundreds  of  millions 
with  which  to  contend  for  its  existence  ? 

Immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  Con 
gress  the  secretary  set  about  borrowing  money 
under  the  provisions  of  the  loan  bill.  To  this 
end  he  met  the  representatives  of  the  banks  of 
New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia.  The 
government's  needs  were  imperative,  and  its 
credit  poor.  The  secretary  had  nothing  to  offer 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  could  tempt  an 
investor.  He  was  almost  absolutely  at  the 
mercy  of  those  with  whom  he  was  dealing.  No 
hope  could  be  entertained  of  getting  money 
abroad,  where  the  financial  interests  were  hostile 
to  the  United  States,  and  were  hoping  to  profit 
by  their  dismemberment.  There  are  few  brighter 


154  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

pages  in  the  history  of  the  rebellion  than  that 
on  which  is  written  the  conduct  of  the  bankers 
at  this  crisis.  Instead  of  attempting  to  take 
advantage  of  the  government,  instead  of  driv 
ing  a  sharp  bargain,  or  even  asking  for  compen 
sation  for  the  financial  risk  that  could  be  fairly 
charged  against  the  transaction,  they  arbitrarily 
raised  the  national  credit  to  a  far  higher  point 
than  that  at  which  it  stood  before  the  war. 
J  The  effect  of  the  arrangement  made  by  the 
secretary  was  that  the  banks  received  at  par 
$100,000,000  of  the  so-called  seven-thirty  notes 1 
of  the  government  payable  in  three  years,  and 
150,000,000  of  its  six  per  cent  bonds  "at  the 
rate  equivalent  to  par  for  the  bonds  bearing 
seven  per  cent  interest;  "2  and  they  paid  in  coin 
for  the  whole  subscription  of  $150,000,000.  The 
entire  capital  of  the  banks  associated  together 
in  the  arrangement  was  only  $120,000,000- 
many  millions  less  than  the  combined  liabili 
ties  which  they  assumed  toward  a  government 
whose  very  existence  was  seriously  threatened 
by  civil  war.3  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  and 

1  The  transaction  with  regard  to  the  seven-thirties  practi 
cally  amounted  to  a  loan  by  the  banks  to  the  government,  to  be 
repaid  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  "  popular  loan  ;  "  or,  if  those 
proceeds  should  be  inadequate,  then  when  the  seven-thirties 
should  mature. 

2  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  appendix,  37th 
Congress,  2d  session. 

3  Bolles,  Financial  History,  1861-1885,  p.  25. 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  155 

most  daring  transactions  that  had  ever  been 
recorded  in  financial  history,  and  it  exhibited  a 
form  of  patriotism  which  was  as  salutary  as  it 
was  unusual. 

This  action  of  the  banks  enabled  the  secretary 
to  meet  pressing  demands,  and  imparted  an 
appearance  of  solidity  to  the  treasury.  But  it 
was  like  throwing  money  into  a  maelstrom,  and 
soon  more  was  needed.  Deeply  involved  as  the 
banks  already  were,  an  effort  was  made  again 
to  secure  their  assistance,  and  that  they  were 
not  able  to  help  was  largely  due  to  the  secretary 
himself.  The  banks  had  urged  him  to  draw 
checks  upon  some  single  bank  in  each  city, 
which  bank  should  represent  the  syndicate,  in 
stead  of  requiring  the  entire  subscriptions  to  be 
actually  paid  from  the  reserves  of  the  banks  in 
coin.  These  checks  would  to  a  large  extent  have 
performed  the  functions  of  money,  and  would 
therefore  have  increased  the  circulating  medium, 
and  they  ordinarily  would  have  been  redeemed 
in  the  notes  of  the  banks  in  the  syndicate, 
which  were  all  upon  a  specie-paying  basis.  The 
obvious  advantage  of  this  arrangement  would 
have  been  to  protect  the  coin  reserves  of  the 
banks,  and  preserve  the  solidity  so  necessary 
not  merely  for  themselves  but  for  the  future 
operations  of  the  government. 

But  Mr.  Chase  was  a  "  hard  money  "  man  in 


156  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

so  literal  a  sense  that  it  ended  in  his  becoming 
through  necessity  a  "soft  money"  man.1  He 
refused  to  grant  the  request  of  the  banks,  and 
received  from  them  and  paid  out  to  the  govern 
ment's  creditors  the  actual  specie.  The  with 
drawal  of  these  large  amounts  of  coin  from  the 
reserves  of  the  banks  and  the  scattering  of  the 
same  over  the  country  were,  as  the  president  of 
one  of  the  principal  banks  well  said,  equivalent  to 
pulling  away  "continually  the  foundations  upon 
which  the  whole  structure  rested."  Mr.  Chase 
aggravated  the  evil  results  of  his  refusal  by 
issuing  from  time  to  time  demand  notes  upon 
the  treasury,  which  must  of  necessity  be  re 
deemed  in  coin,  if  the  credit  of  the  government 
was  to  be  maintained.  These  notes  were  very 
soon  discredited,  and  while  the  banks  were 
called  upon  to  pay  the  government  and  their 
own  customers  in  coin,  they  could  not  safely  re 
ceive  them  as  money  from  the  people.  Under 
these  adverse  conditions  the  coin  reserves  of  the 
associated  banks  rapidly  dwindled.  The  secre 
tary  refused  to  change  his  policy,  and  the  banks, 
from  having  been  in  a  remarkably  strong  condi 
tion  so  late  as  October,  suspended  specie  pay 
ments  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  December. 

1  Sec.  6  of  the  Act  of  August  5, 1861,  would  appear  effectu 
ally  to  authorize  the  suspension  of  the  sub-treasury  act,  which 
Mr.  Chase  urged  against  the  transaction. 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  157 

The  like  suspension  of  the  national  treasury  fol 
lowed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

This  event  was  of  transcendent  importance 
in  the  financial  history  of  the  civil  war.  Had 
the  coin  reserves  of  the  banks  not  been  bodily 
carried  away  by  the  government,  when  a  pay-  * 
ment  in  bank  notes  upon  a  specie  basis  would 
have  been  practically  as  good  and  more  conven 
ient;  and  had  this  mischief  not  been  followed 
up  by  the  unnecessary  issue  of  demand  notes  by 
the  treasury,  it  is  practically  certain  that  the 
banks  could  have  maintained  specie  payments 
for  a  considerable  time,  and  that  they  would 
have  been  most  useful  agents  in  getting  govern 
ment  securities  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  as 
they  were  near  its  close,  into  the  hands  of  in 
vestors  at  par.  It  is  indeed  hardly  probable,  as 
some  high  authorities  have  declared,  that  the 
enormous  expenses  of  the  war  could  have  been 
borne  and  the  treasury  not  have  succumbed  to 
the  strain;  but,  if  the  catastrophe  could  have 
been  averted  even  for  a  year,  the  saving  to  the 
government  would  have  been  great  in  the  higher 
price  which  it  would  have  received  for  its  se 
curities  in  that  interval,  and  in  the  difference 
between  the  price  of  supplies  bought  upon  an 
inflated  basis  and  the  price  at  which  they  could 
have  been  bought  upon  a  coin  basis.  It  was 
unfortunate  for  the  government  that  the  depar- 


158  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

ture  from  the  specie  basis  was  forced  so  early  in 
the  contest,  when  original  and  most  valuable 
sources  of  financial  aid  were  almost  untouched 
and  certainly  far  from  being  exhausted. 

The  secretary  then  had  been  at  first  success 
ful  in  placing  the  loan  authorized  by  Congress, 
although  the  temporary  success  had  been  fol 
lowed  by  disaster.  The  first  operations  of  the 
new  revenue  law  had  disappointed  expectations. 
Mr.  Chase  was  compelled  to  report  in  Decem 
ber  that  the  revenues  had  greatly  suffered  from 
the  conditions  which  were  so  adverse  to  foreign 
trade.  The  actual  receipts  for  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1862,  would  probably  fall  twenty-five 
millions  short  of  the  estimates  of  the  preceding 
summer.  On  the  other  hand,  the  expenditures 
had  greatly  increased,  even  far  beyond  the 
generous  appropriations  of  the  special  session. 
The  deficiency  in  appropriations  would  amount 
to  nearly  8150,000,000,  which,  added  to  the  dif 
ference  between  the  estimates  of  the  revenue 
and  the  actual  receipts,  left  an  enormous  sum 
of  money  to  be  raised  in  addition  to  the  amounts 
provided  for  at  the  special  session,  in  order  to 
earry  the  country  to  June  30,  1862. 

The  secretary  also  gave  the  estimates  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1863,  for  which  pro 
vision  should  be  made  at  the  session  of  Congress 
then  about  to  open.  These  estimates  showed 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  159 

that  the  expenditures  would  amount  to  $475,- 
000,000,  and  the  receipts  to  $95,000,000,  leav 
ing  a  deficiency  of  $380,000,000.  From  the 
report  of  the  secretary  it  thus  appeared  that  the 
December  session  of  Congress  would  have  to 
provide  about  $600,000,000,  either  by  loans  or 
additional  taxes.  If  a  comparison  were  made 
on  the  basis  of  the  wealth  of  the  country,  a 
corresponding  amount  in  1899  would  be  fully 
$3,000,000,000.  This  estimate,  too,  was  made 
while  the  country  was  upon  a  specie  basis,  and 
it  was  certain  to  be  largely  exceeded.  Surely 
the  financial  outlook  was  appalling. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  describe  the  situa 
tion  far  enough  to  enable  the  exact  character 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  work  of  Congress  and 
the  special  work  of  Stevens  to  be  understood, 
and  to  contribute  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
legislation  which  followed  and  which  made  the 
second  session  of  this  Congress  the  most  impor 
tant  from  a  financial  standpoint  that  was  ever 
held  by  any  legislative  body  in  the  history  of 
the  world. 

The-  session  opened  on  the  first  Monday  in 
December,  1861.  The  treasury  and  the  banks 
had  not  yet  suspended  specie  payments,  but  that 
event  was  sufficiently  portended  by  the  black 
clouds  which  darkened  the  financial  sky.  Upon 
the  motion  of  Stevens  those  portions  of  the 


160  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

President's  message  which  related  to  the  finances 
and  to  the  provision  of  additional  revenue  and 
to  the  ways  and  means  for  "supporting  and 
meeting  all  public  liabilities  of  the  government " 
were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means. 

The  work  of  the  session  had  hardly  seriously 
begun  when  the  banks  and  the  treasury  sus 
pended  specie  payments.  This  event  was  quickly 
followed  by  the  bill  reported  from  Stevens 's 
committee  for  the  issue  of  legal-tender  notes. 
A  debate  followed  which  was  memorable  for  its 
ability.  The  measure  was  violently  opposed 
by  Mr.  Conkling  and  Mr.  Morrill,  as  well  as 
by  the  Democratic  members.  Stevens  closed 
the  debate.  His  speech  is  an  excellent  spe 
cimen  of  his  manner  during  the  later  period  of 
his  service  in  the  House.  He  rigidly  discarded 
ornament,  aimed  to  express  his  ideas  in  the 
most  clear  and  direct  fashion,  and,  speaking  as 
if  he  held  rhetorical  effort  in  contempt,  he  really 
exhibited  a  high  literary  form.  In  force  of 
reasoning  and  in  a  lofty  simplicity  of  style, 
whether  one  agrees  with  its  argument  or  not, 
it  is  difficult  to  find  its  match  among  congres 
sional  speeches. 

He  called  the  bill  a  "measure  of  necessity, 
not  of  choice."  He  would  not  willingly  issue 
a  legal-tender  paper  currency,  or  "depart  from 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  161 

that  circulating  medium  which,  by  the  common 
consent  of  civilized  nations,  forms  the  standard 
of  value."  But  such  a  measure,  when  ren 
dered  necessary  by  emergency,  should  not  excite 
alarm.  Was  the  measure  necessary  ?  Buchanan 
had  left  a  debt  of  1100,000,000,  and  had  also 
bequeathed  a  formidable  rebellion.  This  made 
necessary  the  great  loan  authorized  at  the  special 
session.  The  efforts  to  carry  their  subscription 
to  this  loan  had  broken  the  banks  and  compelled 
them  to  suspend  specie  payments.  Only  the 
day  before  they  had  managed  to  pay  the  last  of 
the  loan,  and  now,  with  nearly  1200,000,000  of 
floating  debt,  the  treasury  was  without  money. 
The  expenses  of  the  government  were  nearly 
82,000,000  each  day.  To  carry  the  govern 
ment  to  the  end  of  the  next  fiscal  year  about 
8700,000,000  would  have  to  be  provided  in  ad 
dition  to  the  8350,000,000  already  appropriated. 
How  was  this  enormous  sum  to  be  raised  ?  The 
obvious  method,  he  declared,  was  to  sell  bonds. 
But  the  result  of  putting  so  large  an  amount  upon 
the  market  would  be  greatly  to  depreciate  their 
price ;  and  even  then  they  could  not  be  sold  for 
coin,  but  payment  would  necessarily  be  made 
in  the  depreciated  notes  of  the  suspended  banks. 
Taking  the  very  lowest  discount  at  which  so 
large  an  issue  of  bonds  would  sell,  it  would 
require  81,500,000,000  of  bonds  to  produce 

A 


162  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

sufficient  currency  to  carry  the  government  to 
the  end  of  the  next  fiscal  year,  a  sum  that  was 
"too  frightful  to  be  tolerated."  Another  course 
had  been  suggested,  and  that  was  to  borrow 
money  from  the  banks  and  pledge  the  bonds, 
with  a  liberal  margin,  as  collateral  for  the  loan. 
As  it  was  not  probable  that  the  loan  would  be 
paid  when  due,  the  bonds  "would  be  thrown 
into  the  market  and  sold  for  whatever  the  banks 
might  choose  to  pay  for  them.  The  folly  of  this 
scheme  needs  no  illustration." 

To  the  proposition  to  strike  out  the  legal- 
tender  clause  and  make  the  proposed  notes  re 
ceivable  for  public  dues,  he  replied  that  this 
would  cause  the  notes  to  circulate  at  a  ruinous 
discount.  No  notes  not  redeemable  on  demand, 
and  not  made  a  legal  tender,  "have  ever  been 
kept  at  par.  Even  those  who  could  use  them 
for  taxes  and  duties  would  discredit  them,  that 
they  might  get  them  low."  If  soldiers,  contrac 
tors,  and  others  were  compelled  to  take  them 
from  the  government,  they  would  have  to  "sub 
mit  to  a  heavy  shave  before  they  could  use 
them."  He  did  not  believe  the  national  bank 
ing  project,  suggested  by  the  treasury,  to  be  at 
all  adequate  to  the  emergency;  and  although  he 
might  favor  it  as  a  general  system,  he  furnished 
in  a  sentence  an  argument  which  ever  since  that 
time  has  been  the  favorite  argument  against  the 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  163 

system.  "To  the  banks  I  can  see  its  advan 
tage.  They  would  have  the  whole  benefit  of 
the  circulation  without  interest,  and  at  the 
same  time  would  draw  interest  on  the  govern 
ment  bonds." 

Having,  then,  as  he  thought,  "shown  the 
impossibility  of  carrying  on  the  government  in 
any  other  way,"  he  would  consider  the  objec« 
tions  to  the  plan.  He  then  argued  most  admi 
rably,  if  not  conclusively,  that  the  legal  tender 
would  be  constitutional.  It  was  true,  he  said, 
that  the  power  was  nowhere  expressly  granted 
in  the  Constitution;  but  few  of  the  acts  which 
the  government  could  perform  were  so  speci 
fied.  "It  would  require  a  volume  larger  than 
the  pandects  of  Justinian  or  the  code  of  Na 
poleon  to  make  such  enumeration."  Every 
power  necessary  to  carry  out  the  granted  powers 
was  also  granted.  "If  nothing  could  be  done 
by  Congress  except  what  is  enumerated  in  the 
Constitution,  the  government  could  not  live  a 
week."  The  express  power  to  emit  bills  and 
the  express  prohibition  against  it  were  both 
considered  in  the  convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution.  It  was  finally  decided  to  omit 
both  the  express  power  and  the  prohibition, 
"leaving  it  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times  to 
determine  its  necessity."  The  right  to  emit 
bills  had  "for  fifty  years,  by  the  common  con- 


164  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

sent  of  the  nation,  been  practiced,"  and  the 
power  to  make  them  legal  tender  was  consist 
ent  with  it.  "He  who  admits  our  power  to 
emit  bills  of  credit,  nowhere  expressly  author 
ized  by  the  Constitution,  is  a  sharp  and  unrea 
sonable  doubter  when  he  denies  the  power  to 
make  them  legal  tender."  If  Congress  decided 
that  the  proposed  law  was  necessary  and  conven 
ient  to  "raise  and  support  armies  and  navies,  to 
borrow  money,  and  to  provide  for  the  general 
welfare,"  it  would  be  constitutional. 
/  Having  thus  supported  the  constitutionality 
of  the  measure,  he  next  sought  to  show  that  it 
was  expedient.  The  necessity  of  the  issue  was 
admitted  by  all,  but  the  objection  was  raised 
against  making  the  notes  money,  that  it  would 
depreciate  them.  It  was  not  easy  to  see  "how 
notes  issued  without  being  made  immediately 
payable  in  specie  can  be  made  any  worse  by 
making  them  legal  tender."  "Let  him  who  is 
sharp  enough  to  see  it  instruct  me  how  notes 
that  every  man  must  take  are  worth  less  than 
the  same  notes  that  no  man  need  take."  As 
to  the  objection  that  the  bill  would  impair  the 
obligation  of  contracts,  that  prohibition  did  not 
exist  against  Congress,  but  against  the  States. 
This  law,  however,  would  impair  no  contract. 
"All  contracts  are  made,  not  only  with  a  view 
to  present  laws,  but  subject  to  the  future  legis- 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  165 

lation  of  the  country."  More  than  once  the 
value  of  coin  had  been  changed.  Silver  was 
at  one  time  debased  seven  per  cent,  and  made 
a  legal  tender.  , 

But  it  was  said  that  the  bill  would  inflate  the^ 
currency  and  raise  prices.  "How  do  gentle 
men  expect  that  using  the  same  amount  of  notes 
without  the  legal  tender  will  inflate  it  less  ?  It 
will  take  the  same  amount  of  millions,  with  or 
without  the  legal  tender,  to  carry  on  the  war, 
except  that  the  one  would  be  below  par  and  the 
other  at  par."  The  value  of  legal-tender  notes 
depended  on  the  amount  issued,  compared  with 
the  amount  of  business.  The  business  of  the 
country  would  require  1150,000,000  more  cur 
rency  than  it  now  had.  The  bank  notes  were 
depreciated,  and  coin  had  disappeared  from 
circulation.  The  legal  tender  would  furnish  a 
needed  currency  with  which  to  buy  government 
bonds,  and  the  government,  again  the  possessor 
of  the  notes,  could  again  use  them,  and  again 
they  could  be  employed  in  the  purchase  of 
bonds.  He  believed  that  the  $150,000,000  au 
thorized  by  the  bill  would  be  all  that  would  be 
required. 

He  characterized  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Eos- 
coe  Conkling  to  issue  seven-per-cent  bonds,  to 
be  sold  or  exchanged  for  the  currency  of  the 
banks  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia, 


166  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

as  lacking  "every  element  of  wise  legislation." 
"Make  a  loan  payable  in  irredeemable  currency, 
and  pay  that  in  its  depreciated  condition  to  our 
contractors,  soldiers,  and  creditors  generally! 
The  banks  would  issue  unlimited  amounts  of 
what  would  become  trash  !  Was  there  ever 
such  a  temptation  to  swindle?  If  we  are  to 
use  suspended  notes  to  pay  our  expenses,  why 
not  use  our  own  ?  Are  they  not  as  safe  as  bank 
notes?" 

He  then  proceeded  to  ridicule  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  minority  of  the  committee  to  issue 
interest-bearing  currency  notes,  and  pictured 
the  shoemaker  or  laborer  with  his  arithmetic, 
calculating  the  interest  on  the  note  he  had  held 
a  week  and  wished  to  pay  out.  "  This  would 
be  rather  inconvenient  on  a  frosty  day."  He 
recurred  to  the  main  argument,  and  said  that 
the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  England  had  greatly 
depreciated  during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  until 
their  fall  was  arrested  by  practically  making 
them  a  legal  tender.  He  also  cited  the  example 
of  Prussia  in  favor  of  a  national  paper  cur 
rency.  Yet  the  opponents  of  the  bill  had 
"shown  all  the  contortions,  if  not  the  inspira 
tions,  of  the  sibyl,  lest  the  government  should 
make  these  notes  a  uniform  currency,  rather 
than  leave  them  to  be  regulated  by  sharks  and 
brokers."  He  declared  that  he  looked  upon 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  167 

"the  immediate  passage  of  this  bill  as  essential 
to  the  very  existence  of  the  government.  Re 
ject  it,  and  the  financial  credit  not  only  of  the 
government  but  of  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
country  will  be  prostrated."  If  the  measure 
were  to  be  defeated  he  should  be  glad  to  resign 
from  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and 
leave  it  to  the  opposition  to  pursue  some  other 
measure. 

The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  93  to 
59,  and  ultimately,  with  amendments  presented 
in  the  Senate,  it  became  a  law.  Before  it  finally 
passed,  Stevens  modified  his  statement  that  no 
further  issue  would  be  necessary,  and  that  the 
notes  would  remain  at  par.  He  put  the  burden 
for  his  change  of  opinion  upon  the  Senate 
amendments,  which  required  the  interest  on  the 
bonds  to  be  paid  in  coin,  and  which  conferred 
the  legal-tender  quality  upon  the  notes  already 
issued.  He  declared  that  the  notes  would  be 
come  depreciated,  and  that  issue  after  issue 
would  be  called  for,  "until  our  currency  will 
become  frightfully  inflated." 

The  legal-tender  bill  had  no  sooner  become 
a  law  than  the  abuse  to  which  that  system  of 
finance  is  liable  began  to  show  itself,  and  there 
were  propositions  to  issue  more  notes.  The 
leaders  who  were  protesting  in  January,  doubt 
less  with  entire  sincerity,  that  the  1150,000,000 


168  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

provided  by  the  bill  would  be  sufficient,  were 
in  June  of  the  same  year  asking  for  the  pas 
sage  of  another  measure  authorizing  another 
like  amount.  It  is  only  just  to  Stevens  to  re 
call  the  modification  of  his  opinion,  which  he 
based  upon  the  Senate  amendments.  His  state 
ment  of  the  effect  of  the  amendment  confer 
ring  the  legal-tender  quality  upon  notes  already 
issued  was  not  unreasonable.  The  amendment 
to  which  he  most  strongly  objected  was  that 
which  provided  that  the  government  should  pay 
the  interest  on  its  notes  and  bonds  in  coin.  By 
holding  out  a  promise  of  coin  payments,  the 
requirement,  it  was  urged,  would  have  an  oppo 
site  effect  from  that  anticipated  by  Stevens  and 
prevent  a  greater  depreciation  of  the  notes.  He 
never  ceased  to  recur  to  the  objection  to  the 
end  of  his  career.  The  promise  of  the  ultimate 
payment  of  the  principal  of  the  bonds  in  coin 
would  put  them  firmly  upon  that  basis,  but  he 
argued  with  great  force  that,  if  coin  had  de 
parted  from  circulation,  and  the  government, 
or  the  importers  upon  whom  it  put  the  burden, 
were  compelled  to  use  legal-tender  notes  for  the 
purchase  of  coin  to  pay  the  interest,  the  gold 
speculators  would  take  advantage  of  the  situa 
tion,  "corner"  gold,  and  push  up  its  price. 
The  notes  would  therefore  depreciate.  But  the 
Senate  amendments  could  not  certainly  be  held 


THE  LEGAL   TENDER  169 

responsible  for  the  whole  of  the  enormous  in 
crease  of  legal- tender  notes.  In  one  year  from 
the  time  when  the  first  step  was  taken,  the  legal- 
tender  quality  had  been  impressed  upon  more 
than  8500,000,000  of  paper. 

Whether  the  resort  to  legal-tender  issues  could 
have  been  averted  is  a  question  which  cannot 
be  confidently  answered,  even  with  the  wisdom 
which  follows  the  event  by  a  third  of  a  century. 
Had  the  high  taxation  been  resorted  to  at  the 
outset,  had  even  $150,000,000  been  raised  the 
first  year  instead  of  a  beggarly  $50,000,000,  had 
the  secretary  of  the  treasury  refrained  from  the 
policy  which  sapped  the  coin  reserves  of  the 
banks  and  compelled  the  suspension  of  specie 
payments  by  them  and  by  the  treasury  as  a 
necessary  result,  it  is  certain  that  the  issue  of 
legal  tender  could  have  been  much  longer  de 
layed,  and  it  is  even  possible  that  it  might 
have  been  avoided  altogether.  But  when  Con 
gress  was  asked  to  authorize  the  first  issue 
a  great  deal  of  the  mischief  had  been  done. 
The  treasury  and  the  banks  had  already  sus 
pended  specie  payments.  We  had  been  at  war 
nearly  a  year  and  had  raised  very  little  by  taxa 
tion.  Many  millions  were  due  to  the  700,000 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  were  fighting  the  battles 
of  their  country,  and  disaffection  was  beginning 
to  appear  among  them ;  the  last  installment  from 


170  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

the  sale  of  bonds  to  the  banks  had  been  dis 
bursed,  and  with  an  empty  treasury  the  secre 
tary  was  each  month  called  upon  to  pay  bills 
almost  equaling  the  total  annual  revenues  of 
two  years  before.  There  were  current  demands 
upon  the  government  that  were  overdue,  amount 
ing  to  nearly  1200,000,000,  and  it  had  the  alter 
native  of  selling  its  bonds  at  a  discount,  not  for 
coin,  but  for  the  depreciated  bills  of  suspended 
banks.  The  people,  too,  were  without  a  safe 
currency,  and  were  exposed  to  the  danger  of  a 
wild  and  irresponsible  inflation  by  the  issues  of 
the  non-specie-paying  banks.  It  is  an  easy 
thing  thirty-five  years  afterwards  to  say  that 
the  government  made  a  mistake;  but  a  great 
deal  must  be  taken  for  granted,  and  it  certainly 
is  not  easy  to  point  out  the  superiority  of  the 
other  plans,  suggested  for  the  difficulty,  over 
that  which  was  actually  adopted. 

The  men  responsible  for  the  measure  were  far 
from  being  advocates  of  fiat  money.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Chase  had  done  infinite  damage  in  hurry 
ing  on  the  crisis  by  a  too  literal  adherence  to 
views  of  an  opposite  character.  Before  taking 
the  final  plunge  he  hesitated  long,  with  the  ap 
parent  purpose  of  having  a  measure  pass  with 
out  responsibility  upon  him,  which  he  believed 
to  be  most  necessary,  but  the  principle  of  which 
he  profoundly  disliked.  Stevens,  Sumner,  and 


THE  LEGAL   TENDER  171 

the  other  patriotic  men  who  supported  the  bill, 
were  most  reluctant  to  take  the  step.  But  they 
were  conscious  that  they  were  under  the  pressure 
of  an  overwhelming  necessity,  and  if  one  does 
not  conveniently  forget  some  of  the  difficulties 
which  surrounded  them,  he  will  find  it  difficult 
to  impeach  their  wisdom.  A  bare  statement  of 
the  case  is  enough  to  put  to  confusion  the  text 
book  statesmen  who  confidently  condemn  their 
action.  A  great  civil  war  inevitably  has  a  dis 
astrous  effect  upon  national  credit.  Before  the 
rebellion  the  credit  of  the  unbroken  nation  was 
low;  yet  a  fragment  of  the  nation  was  compelled 
in  four  years  to  raise  nearly  $4,000,000,000. 
If,  under  these  circumstances,  we  had  not  de 
parted  from  a  specie  basis,  we  should  have  ac 
complished  a  feat  for  which  history  furnishes  no 
parallel.  The  aggregate  amount  raised  by  loans 
and  taxation  by  the  French  people  during  the 
wars  of  the  Consulate  and  Empire  did  not 
greatly  exceed  $2,000,000,000.  The  people  of 
the  North  raised  a  billion  more  money  in  four 
years  than  the  united  French  nation  had  raised 
in  fourteen,  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  earlier.1 
The  issue  of  legal-tender  paper  followed  the 
suspension  of  coin  payments  as  a  logical  conse 
quence.  With  no  coin  in  its  vaults,  what,  it 
was  pertinently  asked,  could  the  government 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  550. 


172  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

pay  to  its  creditors  ?  How  could  it  force  upon 
them  a  currency  which  they  in  turn  could  not 
force  their  creditors  to  take  ? 

/  The  departure  from  a  coin  basis  greatly  in 

creased  the  cost  of  the  war,  but  the  amount  of 
this  increase  is  usually  exaggerated.  The  great 
item  in  the  expense  was  the  billion  and  a  quar 
ter  that  was  paid  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors; 
and  this  item,  very  unjustly  no  doubt,  remained 
the  same,  when  they  were  paid  in  a  depreciated 
currency.  The  chief  effect  of  inflation  upon 
the  cost  would  be  seen  in  the  prices  of  supplies. 
But  these  were  mainly  of  domestic  production, 
and  prices  of  such  articles  did  not  rise  with  the 
fluctuations  of  gold  to  any  such  degree  as  did 
the  prices  of  articles  purchased  abroad.  Un 
doubtedly  some  hundreds  of  millions  could  have 
been  saved,  if  the  war  could  have  been  fought 
upon  a  gold  basis;  but  it  was  out  of  the  ques 
tion  to  fight  it  on  a  gold  basis  at  the  time 
when  Stevens  advocated  the  first  legal-tender 
bill. 

The  practical  alternative  to  the  greenback  at 
that  time  was  a  bank  currency,  which  probably 
would  have  been  more  expensive  than  the  legal 
tender.  Vastly  the  greater  cost  of  the  green 
backs  has  followed  the  war.  They  should  have 
disappeared  with  the  pressing  necessity  which 
called  them  into  being.  But  it  is  not  the  fault 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  173 

of  those  who  believed  in  them  for  a  great  emer 
gency  that  they  have  been  permitted  to  remain 
to  cost  the  people,  in  one  way  or  another,  prob 
ably  almost  as  great  a  sum  as  the  entire  money 
cost  of  suppressing  the  rebellion. 


CHAPTER  X 

WAR    REVENUE   MEASURES 

THE  legal-tender  notes  directly  extinguished 
several  hundred  millions  of  debt,  but  a  much 
greater  amount  remained  to  be  raised.  This 
was  done  by  the  issue  of  bonds,  and  by  current 
taxation.  It  would  hardly  be  profitable  to  pre 
sent  in  detail  the  different  loan  measures  which 
were  brought  forward  by  the  committee  of  which 
Stevens  was  chairman.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that,  including  the  loan  of  1250,000,000,  author 
ized  at  the  special  session,  loans  of  one  form 
or  another,  not  including  the  legal  tender,  were 
authorized  and  issued,  during  about  four  years, 
exceeding  in  amount  $2,000,000,000.  One  im 
portant  instrument  in  distributing  so  vast  a 
burden  of  debt  among  the  people  was  the  na 
tional  banking  system,  which  Mr.  Chase  persist 
ently  urged,  and  which  Congress  finally  adopted. 
The  institutions  thus  created  not  only  absorbed 
hundreds  of  millions  of  bonds  to  secure  their 
note  circulation,  but  in  a  single  year  more  than 
three  hundred  and  sixty  millions  were  sold  by 


WAR  REVENUE  MEASURES  175 

them  to  their  customers.1  This  indicates  that, 
if  Secretary  Chase  had  protected  the  reserves 
of  the  banks,  instead  of  destroying  them,  dur 
ing  the  first  year  of  the  war,  and  if  he  had 
also  urged  an  immediate  resort  to  high  taxa 
tion,  the  contest  might  have  been  fought  to  the 
end  upon  a  specie  basis. 

The  policy  of  raising  large  amounts  of  money 
by  taxation  should  have  been  applied  much  ear 
lier,  but  it  was  rigidly  put  in  force  during  the 
last  two  years  of  the  struggle,  and  greatly  re 
lieved  the  strain  upon  the  borrowing  capacity 
of  the  people.  There  existed  at  the  outset  a 
belief,  which  Secretary  Chase  appeared  to  share, 
that  the  war  would  be  of  short  duration,,  and 
that  the  cost  of  suppressing  the  rebellion  should 
not  be  borne  by  taxation  upon  a  portion  of  the 
people,  but  that,  after  peace  had  been  secured, 
taxation  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  war  should  be 
imposed  upon  the  guilty  and  the  innocent  alike. 
Mr.  Chase,  in  his  first  report,  recommended  that 
provision  should  be  made  by  taxation  for  paying 
only  the  ordinary  expenditures  and  the  interest 
and  e inking  fund  upon  the  debt.  Even  this  re 
commendation  was  not  ungrudgingly  carried  out 
by  Congress.  Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  the  opposition  which  Stevens  encountered  in 
levying  the  direct  tax  of  $20,000,000,  and  to 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  482. 


176  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

the  concessions  which  he  was  compelled  to 
make  in  order  to  secure  its  passage.  At  the 
same  session  also  the  small  tax  upon  coffee  was 
violently  opposed.  No  favor  was  shown  to  any 
departure  from  the  old  method,  or  to  even  a 
small  tax  which  in  ordinary  times  might  promise 
to  be  unpopular.  Many  members  of  Congress 
were  apparently  not  aroused  to  the  fact  that  we 
were  really  in  war,  and  they  conducted  their 
politics  upon  a  peace  basis.  The  taxation  dur 
ing  the  first  year  of  the  war  produced  barely 
sufficient  to  meet  the  ordinary  peace  expendi 
tures.  The  entire  revenues  during  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1862,  including  the  produce  of 
the  so-called  war  revenue  measures,  amounted 
to  about  $2.50  for  each  one  of  the  population, 
which  is  barely  half  the  annual  rate  of  taxation 
since  the  war. 

At  the  opening  of  the  December  session  of 
1861  it  had  become  apparent  that  we  were  in 
volved  in  a  war  of  tremendous  magnitude  ; 
and  it  should  have  been  apparent  also  that 
the  weakened  credit  of  the  government  was 
unequal  to  the  task  of  borrowing  the  enormous 
sums  that  were  needed,  and  that  a  system  of 
high  taxation  should  immediately  be  put  in 
force.  But  the  secretary  was  slow  in  learning 
the  necessary  lesson,  and  his  mind  was  filled 
with  schemes  for  new  loans.  He  still  adhered 


WAR  REVENUE  MEASURES  177 

to  the  policy  which  he  had  announced  in  July : 
that  provision  should  be  made  by  taxation  "for 
ordinary  expenditures,  for  prompt  payment  of 
interest  on  the  public  debt  existing  and  author 
ized,  and  for  the  gradual  extinction  of  the 
principal."  This  he  declared  to  be  "indispen 
sable  to  a  sound  system  of  finance."  It  was 
unfortunate  that  he  did  not  comprehend  at  that 
time  that  it  was  also  indispensable  to  a  sound 
system  of  finance  that,  when  so  many  of  the 
young  men  of  the  country  were  fighting  at  the 
front  for  only  nominal  pay,  those  at  home  should 
be  called  on  to  make  the  slight  sacrifice  which 
they  were  very  willing  to  make,  and  pay  sub 
stantial  taxes  to  carry  on  the  war.  By  the  issue 
of  war  bonds  the  interest  charges  of  the  govern 
ment  had  been  increased.  To  meet  the  expense 
which  the  secretary  thought  should  be  met  from 
current  revenues,  he  recommended  that  direct 
taxation  be  increased  to  $50,000,000,  so  that  the 
entire  annual  revenue  should  be  190,000,000. 
In  making  this  recommendation  he  declared 
that  he  was  "aware  that  the  sum  is  large,"  but 
he  felt  "th,at  he  must  not  shrink  from  a  plain 
statement  of  the  actual  necessities  of  the  situa 
tion."  Four  years  later,  when  the  people  were 
so  much  the  more  exhausted  by  war,  they  raised 
nearly  1500,000,000  in  a  single  year  as  against 
the  paltry  sum  of  190,000,000,  which  the  secre- 


178  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

tary  was  now  recommending  with  apologies  for 
its  magnitude. 

But  the  leaders  in  Congress  were  awake  to 
the  necessity  of  raising  substantial  amounts  by 
taxation.  Barely  a  month  after  Mr.  Chase 
made  his  recommendation,  Stevens  and  his  asso 
ciates  upon  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
reported,  and  the  House  almost  unanimously 
passed,  a  resolution  declaring  the  purpose  of 
Congress  to  provide  an  annual  revenue  of  not 
less  than  $150,000,000.  The  House  had  not 
yet  mastered  the  art  of  estimating  the  revenues 
to  be  produced  by  new  taxes  in  time  of  war,  and 
its  first  efforts  at  real  war  taxation  were  less 
productive  than  it  intended.  But  the  policy 
had  been  determined  upon,  and  measure  fol 
lowed  measure  from  Stevens's  committee  with 
a  rapidity  that  proved  their  fixed  intention  of 
carrying  it  out.  The  same  members  who  had 
opposed  the  taxes  upon  tea,  coffee  and  sugar  in 
July,  were  willing  in  December  to  pass  almost 
without  debate  a  further  increase  of  several  mil 
lions  in  these  taxes.  An  internal  revenue  bill 
was  passed  which,  with  subsequent  amendments, 
covered  almost  the  entire  field  of  industry  and 
consumption. 

These  measures  were  interesting,  not  so  much 
from  any  principle  of  taxation  which  they  illus 
trated,  as  from  the  ingenuity  of  Stevens  and 


WAR  REVENUE  MEASURES  179 

his  colleagues  in  discerning  and  exhausting  al 
most  every  source  of  revenue.  The  great  bur 
den  of  the  taxes  fell  upon  malt  and  spirituous 
liquors.  Stamps  were  required  upon  the  most 
minute  as  well  as  the  most  important  transac 
tions  of  business.  The  butcher  was  required 
to  pay  a  license  fee,  and  in  addition  a  certain 
sum  for  every  beef  or  hog  or  sheep  that  he 
killed.  The  dealer  who  sold  him  the  animals 
he  slaughtered  had  also  to  pay  a  tax.  A  license 
was  required  for  almost  every  imaginable  call 
ing  and  trade.  Horse-dealers  and  peddlers,  jug 
glers  and  lawyers,  doctors  and  soapmakers,  had 
each  to  contribute  a  fixed  sum  to  the  govern 
ment.  The  dentist  was  required  to  pay  ten 
dollars  before  he  could  pull  a  tooth,  and  the 
eating-house  keeper  a  like  sum  before  he  could 
sell  a  meal.  The  manufacturer  was  compelled 
to  pay  a  license  fee  and  in  addition  a  specific  or 
an  ad  valorem  tax  upon  the  goods  he  made.  A 
comprehensive  idea  of  the  great  variety  of  pur 
suits  and  avocations  which  were  followed  in  this 
country  in  1862  can  be  gained  by  reading  the 
internal  revenue  law.  If,  after  paying  the  mul 
titude  of  general  and  special  taxes,  one  was  for 
tunate  enough  to  have  more  than  8600  of  annual 
income  left,  he  was  asked  to  pay  three  per  cent 
to  the  government,  and,  if  the  surplus  amounted 
to  810,000,  ten  per  cent.  At  the  end  of  the 


180  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

war  the  internal  taxes  were  producing  revenue 
at  the  rate  of  more  than  $300,000,000  a  year. 
The  tariff  duties  were  revised  and  increased  in 
number  and  amount  until  they  annually  brought 
to  the  treasury  1180,000,000. 

The  practical  instruments,  then,  for  raising 
the  fabulous  amounts  needed  to  prosecute  the 
war  were  the  high  taxation  measures,  the  enor 
mous  issues  of  loans,  and  the  resort  to  legal- 
tender.  Had  the  first  of  these  expedients  been 
more  promptly  adopted  and  a  different  policy 
pursued  with  regard  to  the  banks  in  1861,  it 
might  not  have  been  necessary,  as  I  have  said, 
to  resort  to  the  third  expedient.  Yet  what  other 
men  have  ever  done  so  well?  With  national 
credit  almost  destroyed,  with  property  values 
greatly  lessened,  and  with  half  the  men  of  mili 
tary  age  in  the  field  in  a  civil  war,  20,000,000 
of  people  were  called  upon  in  four  years  to 
meet  an  expenditure  of  13,500,000,000,  and 
they  showed  themselves  able  to  respond  to  the 
gigantic  demand.  The  achievement  not  only 
stands  without  a  parallel,  but  it  stands  unap- 
proached.  The  credit  was  not  chiefly  due  to 
leadership.  What  was  demanded  of  the  lead 
ers  was  the  ability  to  comprehend  and  the  bold 
ness  to  call  into  play  the  splendid  capacity  and 
the  fervent  patriotism  of  the  people.  But  the 
one  man  who  is  as  much  entitled  as  any  other, 


WAR  REVENUE  MEASURES 


181 


with  the  exception  of  the  secretary  of  the  trea 
sury,  to  the  glory  of  these  financial  achieve 
ments  was  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means  and  the  leader  of  the  House 
of  Representatives. 


CHAPTER  XI 

WAK   LEGISLATION 

THE  activity  of  Stevens  was  by  no  means 
confined  to  providing  the  means  of  carrying  on 
the  war  and  to  supervising  the  appropriation 
bills.  When  any  measure  involving  an  impor 
tant  policy  was  before  the  House,  he  was  pretty 
sure  to  be  heard,  and  he  himself  presented  a 
large  number  of  important  measures  aside  from 
those  which  were  within  the  province  of  his 
committee.  An  important  and  ingenious  mea 
sure  was  his  bill  to  repeal  the  laws  establishing 
Southern  ports  of  entry.  One  of  the  great  in- 
*  strumentalities  in  bringing  the  war  to  an  end 
was  the  destruction  of  the  commerce  between 
the  Southern  Confederacy  and  foreign  nations. 

The  Administration,  at  the  very  threshold  of 
the  war,  recognized  the  importance  of  prevent 
ing  the  South  from  sending  abroad  the  vast 
quantities  of  cotton  and  other  produce  which 
could  be  raised  by  slaves  without  detracting 
from  the  fighting  strength,  and  exchanging 
these  for  supplies  and  munitions  of  war.  If 


WAR  LEGISLATION  183 

the  South  .could  have  had  an  uninterrupted 
commerce,  she  would  have  possessed  a  financial 
strength  scarcely  surpassed  by  that  of  the  North. 
She  had  little  manufacturing,  and  could  make 
few  of  the  articles  which  she  might  need  to 
thoroughly  equip  her  armies.  But  the  labor  of 
her  slaves  could  be  employed  as  well  in  war  as 
in  peace  upon  her  plantations  and  cotton -fields, 
and  if  the  produce  of  their  toil  could  be 
exchanged  for  the  products  of  the  much  more 
highly  skilled  labor  of  other  nations,  the  slave 
would  become  a  direct  and  important  factor  in 
winning  the  battle  against  his  own  freedom. 
The  obvious  thing  for  the  North  to  do  was  to 
seal  up  the  ports  of  the  South.  This  could  be 
accomplished  by  a  blockade,  but  the  disadvan 
tage  of  that  method  was  that  its  proclamation 
would  involve  a  species  of  official  recognition 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  it  would  also  entail 
on  us  the  obligation  to  make  it  effective.  But 
if  not  by  a  blockade,  how  could  the  object  be 
attained  ? 

Stevens  proposed  to  repeal  the  laws  creating 
Southern  ports  of  entry,  and  with  remarkable 
foresight  he  reported  a  bill,  before  Lincoln  was 
inaugurated,  having  that  object  in  view.  But 
he  said  in  debate  nearly  a  year  afterwards  that 
"there  were  too  many  peace  conventions  and 
border-state  conferences,  and  too  much  amiable 


184  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

timidity  in  this  House  to  allow  it  to  pass  —  it 
might  offend  the  rebels." l 

He  introduced  it  again  in  the  following  Con 
gress,  and  supported  it  in  a  speech  in  which  he 
declared  that  the  government  had  suffered  seri 
ous  disadvantages  because  the  bill  had  not  been 
passed.  We  had  been  forced  into  a  false  posi 
tion,  he  said,  by  closing  our  ports  with  a  block 
ade,  a  proceeding  which  applied  only  to  opera 
tions  against  a  foreign  nation,  and  involved  an 
admission  of  the  independent  existence  of  the 
people  blockaded.  If  a  blockade  were  pro 
claimed,  foreign  powers  had  the  right  to  ques 
tion  its  efficiency.  "Evading  it,  when  imper 
fectly  maintained,  is  legitimate  trade."  But  a 
nation  had  a  right  to  close  its  own  ports,  and 
that  right  other  nations  could  not  disregard. 
Harbors  which  were  not  ports  of  entry  did  not 
require  a  blockade  to  exclude  commerce.  "  The 
law  blockades  them.  Respect  for  that  law  is 
safer  than  fleets."  The  Confederate  States 
might  indeed  create  ports  of  entry,  but  foreign 
nations  could  not  recognize  these  ports  without 
recognizing  also  the  independence  of  the  Con 
federacy,  and  that  would  be  an  act  of  war. 

He  admitted  that  necessity  for  cotton  was  so 
vital  to  the  industrial  demands  of  England  that 
she  would  do  everything  possible  to  keep  open 

1  See  Congressional  Globe,  December  30,  1861,  p.  180. 


WAR  LEGISLATION  185 

the  Southern  ports.  She  had  "made  war  upon 
the  most  innocent  people  of  the  world  to  compel 
them  to  take  her  opium,"  and  had  forced  them  at 
the  mouth  of  the  cannon  to  swallow  $80,000,000 
worth  of  the  poison  per  annum.  But  if  we 
should  adopt  a  brave  policy  we  should  get  the 
advantage  of  the  anti-slavery  feeling  in  Eng 
land,  which  "among  the  masses  is  more  intense 
than  the  greed  for  cotton."  We  ought  to  an 
nounce  our  purpose  to  abolish  slavery,  which 
"the  whole  civilized  world  now  abhors."  Our 
course  had  repelled  sympathy,  because  the  war 
had  "virtually  been  made  to  rivet  still  stronger 
the  chains  of  human  bondage." 

When  Stevens  delivered  this  speech  it  was 
too  late  to  put  his  plan  into  effective  execution, 
and  he  probably  made  it  to  justify  his  position. 
The  President  had,  on  the  19th  of  the  preceding 
April,  issued  his  proclamation  declaring  the 
blockade  of  Southern  ports  "in  pursuance  of 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  law  of 
nations,"  and  had  declared  that  a  competent 
force  would  be  raised  to  prevent  the  entrance 
and  departure  of  vessels.  Whatever  the  dis 
advantages  of  a  blockade,  they  had  already 
been  incurred  even  at  the  special  session,  when 
an  important  feature  of  the  plan  of  Stevens 
was  incorporated  in  one  of  the  first  bills  to  be 
come  a  law.1  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  method 

1  Acts  of  37th  Congress,  chap.  3. 


186  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

proposed  by  Stevens  was  not  free  from  serious 
objections.  The  friendship  of  foreign  nations 
would  have  been  subjected  to  a  severe  test  when 
the  legal  difficulties  which  the  plan  imposed 
could  be  evaded  by  the  recognition  of  independ 
ence.  At  any  rate  they  would  very  likely  have 
refused  to  regard  it  after  they  recognized  the 
South  as  a  belligerent  power. 

Stevens  was  ready  to  support  the  enormous 
appropriations  asked  by  the  administration, 
but  he  did  not  hesitate  to  criticise  the  lack  of 

r  energy  and  effectiveness  shown  during  the  first 
year  of  the  war,  and  he  urged  the  strictest 
economy  in  the  expenditure  of  money.  Very 
likely  his  strictures  were  a  little  sharper  on 
account  of  his  hostility  to  his  fellow  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  the  secretary  of  war,  and  to  the  fact 
that  Lincoln  moved  too  slowly  for  him  in  the 
direction  of  emancipation. 

v  In  the  discussion  of  a  bill  to  raise  a  special 
volunteer  force  for  the  protection  of  Kentucky 
he  uttered  a  warning  note,  and  declared  that 
the  continued  increase  of  expense  meant  that 
the  "finances  not  only  of  the  government,  but 
of  the  whole  country  must  give  way,  and  the 
people  will  be  involved  in  one  general  bank 
ruptcy  and  ruin."  He  said  that  the  President's 
message  had  given  "a  rose-colored  view  of  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  Kentucky."  If,  how- 


WAR  LEGISLATION  187 

ever,  that  State  needed  special  protection,  a 
force  should  be  sent  from  our  existing  armies. 
"I  understand  there  are  660,000  men  under 
arms  somewhere,"  he  said.  "I  do  not  know 
where  they  are.  I  do  not  see  their  footsteps. 
...  I  know  they  are  lying  about  somewhere, 
where  they  can  very  well  be  spared.  They  are 
doing  nothing.  .  .  .  But  for  Heaven's  sake  do 
not  let  us  go  on  piling  mountains  upon  moun 
tains  of  debt  and  taxation,  until  the  nation 
itself  is  finally  destroyed  in  the  operations  of 
this  war." 

The  war  had  not  proceeded  far  before  it  was 
seen  that  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  had 
not  contemplated  a  great  civil  war,  and  had  not 
made  provision  for  it.  The  members  were  not 
few  in  number  who  endeavored  at  each  step  to 
justify  their  action  under  the  Constitution  by 
a  daring  construction  of  that  instrument,  and 
by  drawing  a  meaning  from  its  provisions  of 
which  its  framers  never  dreamed.  Stevens, 
however,  did  not  permit  himself  to  be  disturbed 
by  any  such  scruples,  or  to  make  the  Constitu 
tion  ridiculous  by  forced  and  unnatural  con 
structions.  His  mind  clearly  perceived  the  fact 
that  war  existed.  Whatever  fictions  might  be 
invented  to  prove  that  the  seceding  States  were 
in  the  Union,  we  were  actually  engaged  in  a 
war  for  self-preservation,  a  civil  war  of  greater 


188  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

magnitude  than  had  ever  been  witnessed.  He 
regarded  the  Constitution  as  practically  set 
aside  in  the  seceding  States,  and  wasted  no 
ingenuity  in  trying  to  preserve  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  those  he  was  making  every 
effort  to  destroy.  Anything  that  would  main 
tain  the  national  authority,  conquer  its  enemies, 
and,  whenever  it  might  be  done,  whether  in  the 
far  or  near  future,  restore  the  ultimate  sway 
of  the  Constitution,  was  in  his  judgment  the 
wisest  policy  to  pursue. 

A  good  illustration  of  his  course  upon  consti 
tutional  questions  arising  within  the  area  of  the 
rebellion  is  found  in  his  treatment  of  the  bill 
for  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  as  a  State. 
The  people  of  that  portion  of  Virginia  within 
the  limits  of  the  present  State  of  West  Virginia 
were  opposed  to  secession.  Like  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  other  mountainous  regions  of  the 
South,  they  remained  loyal  to  the  Union. 
Their  location  by  the  side  of  the  great  free 
States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  their  instinc 
tive  hostility  to  slavery,  and  the  character  of 
their  industries,  which  demanded  free  rather 
than  slave  labor,  naturally  led  them  to  sympa 
thize  with  the  Northern  side  of  the  controversy. 
When  the  parent  State  seceded  they  at  once 
formed  a  state  government,  and  chose  state 
officers.  They  elected  senators  and  representa- 


WAR  LEGISLATION  189 

lives  to  Congress,  who  were  admitted  to  their 
seats.  But  the  patent  absurdity  of  so  small  a 
fraction  of  the  people  of  Virginia  claiming  to 
be  the  whole  State  was  recognized  from  the  out 
set,  and  it  was  determined  to  apply  for  admis 
sion  to  the  Union  as  a  separate  State.  The 
Constitution  prohibited  the  formation  of  a  new 
State  within  the  jurisdiction  of  an  existing 
State  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of 
the  State  itself  as  well  as  of  Congress.  The 
requisite  consent  therefore  to  the  dismember 
ment  of  the  State  could  not  be  obtained  except 
upon  the  extreme  theory  that  the  legislature 
chosen  by  the  people  of  West  Virginia  was  the 
legislature  of  Virginia.  The  war  and  the  elastic 
construction  of  the  Constitution,  which  it  pro 
duced,  had  not  yet  proceeded  sufficiently  far 
for  Congress  to  accept  so  extravagant  a  propo 
sition,  and  the  subject  was  postponed  until  the 
December  session  of  1862.  By  that  time  dis 
tinguished  representatives  were  prepared  to 
argue  that  the  legislature  chosen  by  the  inhabi 
tants  of  West  Virginia  was  the  legislature  of 
Virginia,  and  that  it  could  constitutionally  con 
sent  to  the  formation  of  the  new  State.  Mr. 
Dawes  tersely  stated  the  case  when  he  said: 
"Nobody  has  given  his  consent  to  the  division 
of  the  State  of  Virginia  and  the  erection  of  a 
new  State  who  does  not  reside  in  the  new  State 


190  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

itself."  In  other  words,  the  people  of  the  pro 
posed  new  State  gave  the  consent  of  the  old 
State  that  it  might  be  divided. 

Stevens  was  willing  to  admit  West  Virginia, 
but  his  practical  mind  quickly  rejected  the  fine 
spun  arguments  to  support  the  constitutionality 
of  the  proceeding.  He  began  a  speech  upon  the 
bill  by  declaring  that  he  was  not  to  be  "under 
stood  as  being  deluded  by  the  idea  that  we  are 
admitting  this  State  in  pursuance  of  any  pro 
vision  of  the  Constitution."  The  constitutional 
argument  was  advanced  by  those  who  honestly 
held  an  erroneous  opinion,  or  "who  desire  to 
justify  by  a  forced  construction  an  act  which 
they  have  predetermined  to  do."  In  his  judg 
ment  it  was  mockery  to  say  that  the  legisla 
ture  of  Virginia  had  given  its  consent.  Only 
200,000  people  out  of  a  million  and  a  quarter 
had  chosen  this  legislature,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  State  had  a  regularly  organized  gov 
ernment,  which  was  the  undeniable  choice  of  the 
majority  of  its  people  and  which  had  gone  into 
rebellion.  They  were  traitors  undoubtedly,  but 
they  were  still  the  State  of  Virginia.  A  very 
small  number  of  respectable  people  in  West 
Virginia  had  assembled,  disapproved  of  the 
action  of  the  State,  and  "with  the  utmost  self- 
complacency  called  themselves  Virginia."  "Now 
is  it  not  ridiculous  .  .  .  ?  The  State  of  Vir- 


WAR  LEGISLATION  191 

ginia  has  never  therefore  given  its  consent  to 
this  separation  of  the  State.  According  to  my 
principles  operating  at  the  present  time,  I  can 
vote  for  its  admission  without  any  compunc 
tions  of  conscience,  but  with  some  doubts  about 
the  policy  of  it." 

He  then  announced  his  views  concerning  the 
legal  status  of  the  rebellious  States,  and  these 
proved  to  be  the  principles  upon  which  his  pol 
icy  of  reconstruction  was  afterwards  based,  and 
which  were  accepted  in  substance  by  the  nation. 
"This  and  other  States  have  declared  that  they 
are  no  longer  members  of  this  Union  —  and  have 
raised  and  organized  an  army  and  a  power  which 
the  governments  of  Europe  have  recognized  as  a 
belligerent  power."  We  ourselves,  he  declared, 
had  unfortunately  recognized  them  by  declaring 
a  blockade.  We  blockade  an  enemy's  ports. 
We  cannot  blockade  our  own.  We  should 
have  repealed  the  law  creating  these  ports  of 
entry.  The  Confederate  States,  therefore,  were 
a  power,  and  they  became  subject  to  all  the  laws 
of  war.  The  Constitution  had  not  the  least 
effect  upon  them.  It  was  idle  to  say  that  the 
obligations  of  an  instrument  were  "  binding  upon 
one  party  while  they  are  repudiated  by  the  other. 
It  is  one  of  the  principles  of  law  universal  .  .  . 
that  obligations  personal  or  national  must,  in 
order  to  be  binding,  be  mutual  and  be  equally 


192  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

acknowledged  and  admitted  by  all  parties.  .  .  . 
*  Hence  I  hold  that  none  of  the  States  now  in 
rebellion  are  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the 
Constitution."  Where,  he  asked,  did  Lincoln 
find  any  warrant  in  the  Constitution  for  the  ap 
pointment  of  military  governors?  "If  he  must 
look  there  alone  for  authority,  then  all  these 
acts  are  flagrant  usurpations."  Stevens  here 
boldly  and  clearly  announced  the  principle  which 
was  hostile  to  the  policy  afterwards  originated  by 
Lincoln  and  indorsed  by  Johnson,  and  which, 
after  a  contest  hardly  less  memorable  than  that 
over  slavery  itself,  and  intimately  connected 
with  it,  was  destined  to  prevail  and  to  prescribe 
the  terms  upon  which  the  seceding  States  were 
restored  to  the  Union.  Even  in  this  speech  he 
foreshadowed  his  opposition  to  Lincoln's  recon 
struction  policy,  by  declaring  with  a  good  deal 
of  asperity  that,  "while  in  a  great  majority  of 
instances  in  the  rebel  States  he  [the  President] 
has  had  but  little  regard  to  the  Constitution,  he 
has  upheld  it  in  only  one,"  referring  to  the 
policy  of  confiscation. 

While  Stevens  regarded  the  seceding  States 
as  outside  of  the  Constitution,  he  jealously  up 
held  that  instrument  within  the  sphere  of  the 
authority  of  the  national  government.  Mr. 
Eoscoe  Conkling  presented  a  resolution,  calling 
upon  the  secretary  of  war  for  information  as  to 


WAR  LEGISLATION  193 

the  responsibility  for  the  disaster  at  Ball's  Bluff, 
where,  through  a  gross  blunder,  a  detachment 
of  our  troops  had  been  moved  across  the  Po 
tomac  under  most  adverse  conditions,  and  nearly 
a  thousand  of  them  had  been  lost.  The  secre 
tary  had  replied  that  no  inquiry  to  fix  the  re 
sponsibility  had  been  held,  because  in  the  opinion 
of  the  general-in-chief  it  would  be  "injurious  to 
the  public  service."  Mr.  Conkling  introduced 
a  second  resolution,  and  supported  it  with  a 
speech  which  excited  a  heated  debate.  The 
Constitution  was,  as  usual,  brought  into  the 
discussion.  It  was  declared  to  be  a  violation 
of  that  instrument  for  the  House  to  meddle  with 
a  military  question  of  the  character  presented 
by  the  resolution.  The  President  was  made 
the  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies,  and  the 
question  came  within  his  jurisdiction,  and  was 
not  an  affair  for  the  House.  Stevens  did  not 
agree  with  this  view  of  the  case,  and  said  that 
it  had  no  foundation  in  the  Constitution.  The 
power  to  declare  war,  to  raise  armies,  and  to 
vote  supplies  was  in  Congress.  "Has  it  come 
to  that,"  he  asked,  "that  this  body  is  a  mere 
automaton  to  register  the  decrees  of  another 
power?  ...  It  is  the  doctrine  of  despotism,  better 
becoming  that  empire  which  they  are  attempt 
ing  to  establish  in  the  South."  The  House 
passed  the  resolution,  but  the  second  reply  of 


194  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  secretary  contained  no  more  information 
upon  the  question  of  responsibility  than  the 
first. 

The  bill  presented  to  the  House  by  Stevens, 
to  indemnify  the  President  and  others  for  the 
suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  met 
with  determined  opposition.  The  President 
regarded  it  as  a  military  necessity  to  suspend 
the  writ  in  the  case  of  many  persons  who  had 
been  arrested  on  the  charge  of  aiding  the  rebel 
lion.  It  was  obviously  impossible  to  conduct 
the  war  in  the  courts  or  according  to  the  rules 
of  law.  If  an  officer  of  the  army  had  caused 
the  arrest  of  a  spy  or  of  persons  in  a  secret 
conspiracy  against  the  government,  it  would 
not  merely  have  been  manifestly  detrimental  to 
take  him  from  his  post  of  duty,  but  he  could 
not  in  many  cases  make  without  injury  the  dis 
closures  which  a  judicial  inquiry  would  involve. 
The  suspension  of  the  writ  in  time  of  war  was 
clearly  authorized  by  the  Constitution.  But 
what  power  could  suspend  the  writ  ?  The  Presi 
dent  was  advised  by  his  cabinet  that  he  could 
do  it.  It  was  claimed,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
the  suspension  of  a  writ  so  vital  to  individual 
liberty  was  not  a  mere  executive  act,  but  that, 
if  Congress  were  in  session,  its  suspension  must 
first  be  sanctioned  by  that  body.  If  the  sus 
pension  had  not  been  legal  the  executive  officers 


WAR  LEGISLATION  195 

might  be  liable  to  heavy  civil  damages.  It  was 
also  most  important  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  that  the  writ  should  be  suspended.  Stevens 
proposed  to  settle  all  doubts  by  indemnifying 
the  executive  officers  for  arrests  already  made, 
and  giving  to  the  President  authority  to  suspend 
the  writ  during  the  continuance  of  the  rebellion. 
He  had  carefully  studied  the  English  precedents 
for  the  somewhat  technical  portion  of  the  bill 
relating  to  the  indemnity,  and  was  able  to  an 
swer  all  objections.  He  secured  its  passage  in 
a  summary  fashion  and  with  very  little  debate  ; 
for  when  the  opposition  objected  to  assigning 
the  discussion  for  some  future  day  he  abruptly 
demanded  the  previous  question. 

One  of  the  acts  of  the  thirty-seventh  Congress 
which  suffered  a  great  deal  of  unpopularity  was 
the  act  for  "enrolling  and  calling  out  the  na 
tional  forces."  In  some  portions  of  the  North 
the  number  of  those  who  were  willing  to  volun 
teer  had  been  exhausted.  The  conscription  act 
at  one  step  provided  for  drafting  into  the  ser 
vice,  with  a  few  exceptions,  all  the  able-bodied 
men  of  military  age  in  the  country,  or  as  many  of 
them  as  the  President  should  see  fit  to  call  out. 
The  measure  was  the  occasion  for  a  prolonged 
and  exciting  debate,  which,  as  party  lines  were 
closely  drawn,  took  on  the  most  partisan  char 
acter.  Some  members  objected  to  the  drastic 


196  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

features  of  the  bill,  which  armed  provost  mar 
shals  with  the  power  to  arrest  for  "treason 
able  practices."  Of  course,  in  the  judgment  of 
others,  it  violated  the  Constitution.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  hot  declamation  to  the  effect  that 
the  bill  would  completely  destroy  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  the  people.  Mr.  Vallandigham 
distinguished  himself  by  the  violence  of  his  de 
nunciation  of  the  bill,  and  by  a  bitter  attack 
upon  the  President.  Stevens  was  not  at  all  dis 
inclined  to  take  part  in  a  partisan  debate,  and 
the  contribution  which  he  made  to  the  discus 
sion  affords  a  very  good  example  of  his  style  of 
partisan  speaking  in  the  House.  We  should,  he 
said,  have  had  sufficient  volunteers  had  the  Dem 
ocrats  not  done  all  in  their  power  to  persuade 
men  not  to  enlist.  They  desired  to  keep  Demo 
crats  at  home  in  order  that  they  might  carry  the 
elections.  Their  policy  had  succeeded,  he  said, 
in  some  districts,  as  the  returns  of  the  last  elec 
tion  showed.  He  admitted  that  many  loyal 
Democrats  had  volunteered,  but  many  also  had 
been  dissuaded.  To  prove  this  statement,  he  said 
that  he  would  read  from  a  speech  of  Mr.  Vallan 
digham,  in  which  the  latter  said:  "The  day 
has  gone  by  when  a  war  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Union  can  by  any  possibility  be  successful," 
and  added  that,  if  the  war  continued  and  no 
relenting  spirit  was  shown,  the  rebels  ought  to 


F   THK 

UNIVERSITY 


WAR  LEGISLATION  197 

be  induced  to  invade  the  North.  He  had  also 
asked  in  the  same  speech :  "  Will  you  send  your 
sons  again  to  the  battlefield?  Shall  they  be 
conscripted  to  carry  on  this  war  for  two  years 
more  and  for  the  negro?  " 

Vallandigham  interrupted  Stevens  at  this  point 
to  make  a  correction  in  the  report  of  his  speech. 
Stevens  replied,  "I  will  strike  that  out.  The 
other  is  at  least  first  cousin  to  it.  The  whole 
of  it,  if  spoken  anywhere  else  than  under  this 
government,  would  come  very  near  to  '  treason 
able  practices,'  and  therefore  I  intend  to  strike 
out  that  expression,  for  the  partition  between 
treason  and  treasonable  practices,  and  between 
treasonable  practices  and  the  sentiments  of  that 
speech,  is  so  very  thin  that  any  deputy  provost 
marshal  not  skilled  in  these  nice  distinctions 
would  be  very  likely  to  do  great  injustice  by 
reporting  the  gentleman.  (Laughter.) " 1  He 
then  noticed  the  charge  that  we  were  not  suc 
ceeding  in  the  war  because  McClellan  had  been 
dismissed.  He  affected  a  reluctance  to  speak 
about  McClellan,  which,  of  course,  he  professed 
to  do  only  under  compulsion.  Some  idea  of  the 
character  of  his  comments  upon  the  less  suc 
cessful  of  McClellan 's  operations  may  be  found 
from  what  he  said  about  his  important  victory 
at  Antietam.  The  President  had  ordered  the 

1  Congressional  Globe,  February  24,  1863. 


198  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

general  to  pursue  the  enemy.  "  He  started  after 
them  with  an  army  of  120,000  men  before  him, 
and  marched  that  army  at  the  rapid  rate  of  six 
miles  a  day  until  they  stopped  and  he  came  up 
with  them.  (Laughter.)  He  then  fought  the 
battle  of  Antietam.  It  was  a  quasi  victory,  but 
notwithstanding  that,  while  the  enemy  were  in 
sight  of  the  river,  and  while  he  was  within  can 
non-shot  of  the  enemy,  he  suffered  them  all  to 
cross  the  river,  which  was  done  by  them  deliber 
ately  and  successfully  to  the  last  man  and  the 
last  ambulance."  The  conscription  bill  finally 
passed  by  a  vote  of  nearly  three  to  one,  and 
thus  the  first  Congress  which  sat  during  the  war 
voted  "the  last  man,"  as  it  had  already  shown 
its  willingness  to  appropriate  "the  last  dollar." 
One  of  the  "war  measures"  adopted  by  Con 
gress  to  suppress  the  rebellion  was  the  confisca- 
tion  of  the  property  of  the  rebels.  I  have  al 
luded  to  the  act  passed  at  the  July  session  of 
1861,  which  undertook  to  deal  principally  with 
the  cases  of  slaves  working  upon  forts  and 
otherwise  employed  in  the  military  service  of 
the  Confederacy.  That  was  a  mild  enactment. 
As  the  war  progressed,  a  great  variety  of  bills, 
some  of  them  of  the  most  extreme  character, 
were  introduced.  The  action  of  the  Confeder 
ate  government  in  confiscating  the  property  of 
"alien  enemies,"  and  the  rigid  manner  in  which 


WAR  LEGISLATION  199 

it  was  enforced,  were  not  without  their  effect 
upon  Congress.  This  act  was  employed,  not 
only  against  citizens  of  the  North,  but  also 
against  subjects  of  Great  Britain  and  other 
neutral  nations.1 

Many  harsh  measures  of  reprisal  were  pro 
posed  in  both  Houses,  and  finally  one  of  them, 
which  seemed  moderate  only  when  compared 
with  the  others,  was  passed  and  received  the 
reluctant  approval  of  the  President.  Its  chief 
features  were  the  discretion  which  it  gave  to 
the  court  to  impose  the  death  sentence  or  a  fine 
and  imprisonment  for  the  crime  of  treason ;  the 
power  it  conferred  on  the  President  to  seize  the 
estates  of  the  military  and  the  principal  civil 
officers  of  the  Confederacy;  and  the  provision 
that  all  slaves  of  persons  who  should  thereafter 
be  engaged  in  rebellion,  escaping  or  coming 
within  the  control  of  the  forces  of  the  United 
States,  should  be  deemed  captives  and  be  "for 
ever  free." 

The  measure  was,  in  fact,  rendered  somewhat 
ineffective  by  the  passage  of  a  resolution  which 
Lincoln  exacted  as  a  condition  to  his  signing  it, 
and  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  put  into 
actual  operation  with  any  severity.  This  reso 
lution  did  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  advocates 
of  confiscation,  and  an  effort  was  subsequently 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  p.  349. 


200  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

made  to  amend  it.  It  could  safely  be  taken  for 
granted  that  Stevens  would  support  confiscation, 
especially  of  slave  property,  but  he  made  use 
of  the  occasion  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  again 
declaring  his  opinions  upon  the  constitutional 
relations  of  the  seceding  States  to  the  Union. 
This  was  a  subject  apparently  always  before  his 
mind.  In  a  speech  which  dealt  very  slightly 
with  confiscation  he  ridiculed  the  claim  that  the 
rebel  States  were  still  in  the  Union,  and  that 
whenever  our  "wayward  sisters  choose  to  aban 
don  their  frivolities  and  present  themselves  at 
the  door  of  the  Union  ...  we  must  receive 
them  with  open  arms."  If  those  States  were  in 
the  Union  he  could  see  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  elect  the  next  President  of  the  United 
States  and  senators  and  representatives  to  Con 
gress.  If  that  claim  were  correct,  "then  the 
rebel  States,  after  having  been  conquered  and 
reduced  to  utter  helplessness  through  the  ex 
penditure  of  many  billions  of  money  and  the 
shedding  of  oceans  of  loyal  blood,  may  lay 
down  their  arms,  which  they  can  no  longer 
wield,  claim  to  be  legitimate  members  of  the 
Union,  .  .  .  retain  all  their  lands  and  posses 
sions,  and  leave  the  loyal  States  burdened  with 
an  immense  debt,  with  no  indemnity  for  their 
sufferings  and  damages  and  with  no  security  for 
the  future." 


WAR  LEGISLATION  201 

He  then  put  the  question  whether  the  struggle 
was  to  be  regarded  as  a  "public  war  "  under  the 
rules  of  civilized  warfare,  or  "only  a  domestic 
insurrection,  to  be  suppressed  by  criminal  prose 
cution  before  the  courts  of  the  country?"  If 
it  was  an  insurrection,  then  the  insurgents  had 
a  right  to  "the  protection  of  the  Constitution 
and  municipal  laws."  If  it  was  a  public  war, 
"  then  they  are  subject  to  the  laws  of  war 
alone."  He  then  cited  Vattel  to  show  that, 
when  a  republic  was  broken  into  two  armed 
factions,  "this  is  called  civil  war;"  that,  al 
though  a  sovereign  might  call  all  who  resisted 
him  rebels,  yet  if  they  had  strength  enough  to 
oblige  him  to  carry  on  war  according  to  the 
established  rules  he  must  submit  to  the  use  of 
the  term  civil  war,  and  that  in  such  a  case  the 
combatants  "  stand  in  precisely  the  same  predica 
ment  as  two  nations  who  engage  in  a  contest." 
Could  any  one,  he  asked,  deny  to  a  contest  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  rebellion  the  term  "civil 
war"?  The  powers  of  Europe  had  recognized 
the  Southern  States  as  belligerents.  What  was 
even  more  conclusive,  "with  unfortunate  haste 
we  blockaded  their  ports,"  and  thereby  our 
selves  acknowledged  their  belligerency.  We 
"had  treated  their  captive  soldiers  as  prisoners 
of  war,"  exchanged  prisoners,  and  sent  flags  of 
truce.  "This  is  not  the  usage  awarded  to  an 


202  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

unorganized  banditti."  If  public  war  existed, 
he  said,  then  it  was  clear  that  no  compacts, 
laws,  and  paper  obligations  could  be  relied  upon 
by  the  South  against  the  North.  This  argu 
ment  was  in  entire  harmony  with  that  which  he 
made  soon  after  the  war  began  and  to  which 
he  adhered  to  the  end.  He  was  unquestionably 
a  great  lawyer.  It  is  impossible  to  read  his 
speeches  upon  questions  of  a  legal  character 
and  not  appreciate  the  grounds  for  the  tribute, 
said  to  have  been  paid  him  by  another  great 
lawyer  and  a  political  foe,  Judge  Jeremiah  S. 
Black,  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  no 
equal  as  a  lawyer  at  the  American  bar.1 

Being  the  thorough  lawyer  that  he  was,  he 
detected  at  the  very  outset  the  inevitable  legal 
question  which  would  come  with  the  ultimate 
victory  of  the  North.  He  investigated  it, 
weighed  it  most  carefully,  and  when  he  had 
once  reached  his  conclusion  he  did  not  deviate 
from  it  by  a  hair;  it  remained  thereafter  as 
binding  upon  his  mind  as  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  far  more  so  than  such  a 
decision  which  did  not  accord  with  his  judg 
ment.  There  was  no  partisanship  about  it,  be 
cause  his  party  had  at  the  time  no  opinion  upon 
the  question.  Indeed  that  party  had  harbored 
the  loose  generalization,  which  had  become  a 
1  The  Green  Bag,  vol.  iii.  p.  260. 


WAR  LEGISLATION  203 

sort  of  cant,  that  the  seceding  States  were  in 
the  Union,  and  it  received  his  opinion  at  the 
outset  with  a  species  of  horror.  He  was  called 
radical  and  in  advance  of  his  party.  Doubtless 
he  was  radical  upon  many  propositions,  but  he 
was  an  apparent  radical  upon  this  question  only 
because  he  studied  and  decided  it  first.  It  was 
not  with  him  essentially  a  question  of  policy. 
It  was  almost  purely  a  question  of  law.  When 
other  men  came  seriously  to  look  into  the  pro 
blem  most  of  them  agreed  with  him,  and  ulti 
mately  the  nation  adopted  his  position. 

The  views  of  Stevens  grew  constantly  more 
radical  upon  the  question  of  confiscation,  and 
he  urged  it  both  as  a  species  of  indemnity  and 
as  a  punishment.  He  did  not,  however,  believe 
in  bloody  penalties.  While  a  member  of  the 
Pennsylvania  legislature  he  had  strongly  opposed 
capital  punishment,  and  he  did  not  desire  to 
apply  it  against  the  Confederates ;  but  he  would 
have  been  little  constrained  by  considerations  of 
mercy  when  it  came  to  the  infliction  of  pecu 
niary  penalties. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  expense  of  the  war 
Stevens  appreciated  the  political  and  commer 
cial  advantage  to  the  country  of  incurring  new 
debts  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  the 
Pacific  railroads,  and  he  took  charge  in  the 
House  of  one  at  least  of  those  great  measures. 


204  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

But  he  was  discriminating  in  his  support  of 
public  improvements  and  also  of  bills  which 
disguised  under  a  military  title  some  formidable 
design  upon  the  treasury.  Among  measures  of 
the  latter  sort  was  one  of  which  the  patriotic 
title  imported  that  it  was  designed  to  furnish 
a  waterway  "for  the  passage  of  armed  and 
naval  vessels  from  the  Mississippi  River  to 
Lake  Michigan."  Stevens  fought  this  measure 
successfully  with  the  weapon  of  ridicule.  He 
claimed  that,  as  the  Illinois  River  had  very  little 
depth  of  water,  a  connection  between  it  and  the 
lake  would  drain  the  latter  and  leave  nothing 
but  dry  land.  The  war,  which  gentlemen  favor 
ing  the  bill  were  to  have  with  Great  Britain, 
"was  to  come  off  at  the  farthest  in  ninety 
days,"  and  the  canal  through  which  our  war 
vessels  were  to  pass  could  not  be  finished  in  less 
than  five  years ;  and  then,  even  if  our  gunboats 
could  be  brought  to  Chicago,  a  slight  obstacle 
still  remained  to  getting  them  into  Lake  On 
tario,  as  it  was  necessary  to  run  Niagara  Falls, 
"which  is  said  to  be  a  little  perilous  in  the 
spring  of  the  year."  No  one  could  have  been 
more  relentlessly  hostile  to  the  schemes  of  those 
designing  patriots,  who  always  follow  in  the 
wake  of  war. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  paying  inter 
est  on  the  national  debt  in  coin.     He  believed, 


WAR  LEGISLATION  205 

during  the  war  at  least,  that  the  principal  of  " 
the  bonds  should  be  payable  in  coin,  if  the  term 
for  which  they  were  to  run  should  continue  for 
a  considerable  time  beyond  the  probable  termi 
nation  of  the  war,  although  at  a  later  period  he 
protested  against  paying  in  coin  those  bonds 
which  according  to  their  terms  were  payable  in 
money ;  such  a  proceeding  he  termed  "  a  swindle 
upon  the  taxpayers  of  the  country."  But  his 
position  during  the  war  was  that  a  general  sus 
pension  of  specie  payments  would  cause  gold  to 
become  an  object  of  speculation,  and  that  the 
government  would  have  to  submit  to  the  exac 
tions  of  the  "gold  room "  in  order  to  get  the 
great  quantity  needed  to  meet  its  interest  charge ; 
and  that,  if  it  collected  its  customs  duties  in 
gold,  the  burden  would  only  be  shifted  upon  the 
importers,  with  the  result  in  both  cases  of  arti 
ficially  putting  up  the  price  of  gold  as  measured 
in  greenbacks. 

So  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  last  year  of 
the  war  he  again  urged  the  adoption  of  his 
policy,  making  "one  more  effort,"  as  he  said, 
"probably  the  last  I  shall  ever  make  upon  this 
subject,  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  what  I  be 
lieve  to  be  the  rapid  downward  course  to  abso 
lute  ruin  of  our  system  of  currency." 1  He  was 
most  tenacious  of  his  belief'  upon  this  subject, 
1  Cong.  Globe,  June  23, 1864. 


206       ,  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

as  indeed  he  was  upon  all  others.  He  reiter 
ated  the  view  which  he  had  expressed  in  the 
House  soon  after  the  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ments.  "I  thought  so  from  the  first,"  he  de 
clared,  "although  it  looks  like  tautology  to 
repeat  it  every  time  when  this  question  comes 
up."  He  pointed  to  the  high  price  of  gold,  and 
consequently  the  high  price  of  everything,  as 
a  vindication  of  his  prophecy  made  more  than 
two  years  before.  "All  our  financial  troubles," 
he  said,  "arise  from  the  extraordinary  demand 
for  gold,  when  gold  is  not  the  currency  of  the 
country."  When  specie  payments  had  been 
suspended  he  thought  that  the  suspension  should 
have  been  general  and  every  industry  and  in 
terest  should  have  stood  together,  of  course 
with  the  ultimate  purpose  to  resume  coin  pay 
ments  and  with  the  hope  of  the  "better  and 
happier  times  when  coin  will  be  the  currency 
of  the  country."  If  his  plan  was  not  adopted 
of  making  the  principal  of  the  bonds  payable  in 
coin  and  the  interest  in  lawful  money,  he  de 
clared  that  gold  was  likely  to  go  to  300  per  cent. 
He  hoped  that  he  might  prove  a  worse  prophet 
than  he  had  already  been  shown  to  be  in  regard 
to  the  same  subject,  but  he  had  intended  to 
paint  the  results  in  mild  colors. 

The  House   did   not   accept  his  policy,  but 
whether  the  substantial  fulfillment  of  his  predic- 


WAR  LEGISLATION  207 

tion  vindicated  his  wisdom  must  remain  a  matter 
of  conjecture.  If  we  exclude  the  effect  of  spec 
ulation,  there  would  appear  to  be  no  adequate 
reason,  when  the  certainty  of  victory  had  become 
apparent,  why  the  credit  of  the  national  govern 
ment,  as  shown  by  the  value  of  its  currency  in 
the  purchase  of  gold,  should  have  been  barely  a 
third  as  high  as  in  the  dark  days  of  January, 
1862.  Its  debt  had  indeed  greatly  increased; 
but,  judged  according  to  the  standard  of  wealth 
and  population,  it  still  remained  smaller  than 
that  of  European  nations  which  enjoyed  a  high 
credit. 

Stevens  was  conservative  in  his  financial  views  * 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  but  he  ceased  to  be  I 
orthodox  before  it  closed.  There  is  much  in  his 
later  speeches  to  give  comfort  to  the  advocate  of 
fiat  money.  The  action  of  the  legislative  depart 
ment  was  so  often  invoked  to  create  money,  and 
interfere  with  the  natural  laws  of  trade,  that  it 
was  resorted  to  with  constantly  increasing  fre 
quency.  He  apparently  came  to  have  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  legal  nostrums,  though  his  own 
experience  should  have  taught  him  the  danger 
of  this  course.  Having  aided  in  creating  an 
enormous  premium  on  gold  by  repeated  issues  of 
paper  money,  Congress  chose  to  find  the  cause 
of  that,  for  which  it  could  fairly  claim  a  large 
measure  of  responsibility,  in  the  "gold  room." 


208  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

It  accordingly  applied  a  legislative  remedy  to 
the  evil,  and  passed  a  rigid  law  restricting  the 
transactions  that  could  be  made  in  gold.  This 
extraordinary  piece  of  legislation  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  in  principle  to  some  of  the  laws 
of  the  French  Revolution.  Although  Stevens 
presented  a  gold  bill  to  the  House  from  his 
committee,  he  was  probably  no  more  responsible 
than  many  of  the  other  members  who  supported 
the  legislation.  It  had  no  more  earnest  advo 
cate  than  Secretary  Chase.  The  absurdity  of 
the  enactment  was  soon  demonstrated  by  its 
own  operations.  It  greatly  aggravated  the  diffi 
culty  which  it  was  intended  to  remove.  In  a 
f  short  time  the  premium  on  gold  bounded  up 
wards  thirty  points,  and  fifteen  days  after  the 
enactment  of  the  law  it  was  repealed  by  the 
Yery  Congress  which  had  passed  it. 

A  review  of  the  course  of  Stevens  upon  all 
the  measures  coming  before  the  House  would 
involve  practically  a  history  of  legislation  dur 
ing  the  war.  He  was  so  unquestionably  leader 
that  no  man  was  next  to  him,  and  his  industry 
and  energy  responded  so  fully  to  the  demands, 
that  he  was  almost  always  upon  his  feet  or  in 
charge  of  measures  before  the  House.  When 
the  enormous  amount  of  committee  work  which 
he  was  called  upon  to  perform  is  remembered, 
and  especially  the  preparation  of  revenue  and 


WAR  LEGISLATION  209 

appropriation  bills,  which  would  alone  be  a 
sufficient  tax  upon  the  strength  of  an  ordinary 
man,  it  is  almost  incredible  that  one  at  his  ad 
vanced  age  should  have  been  able  to  attend  so 
constantly  upon  the  sessions  of  the  House  and 
perform  the  part  that  he  performed  there.  For 
the  purpose  of  taking  a  glimpse  of  him  as  a 
working  member  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  the 
House,  I  have  instanced  a  few  of  the  many 
matters  with  which  he  dealt,  unimportant  only 
when  compared  with  the  great  financial  mea 
sures  to  which  I  have  referred  in  a  previous 
chapter  and  to  the  measures  of  even  greater 
consequence  concerning  emancipation  and  re 
construction  of  which  I  have  still  to  treat. 


CHAPTER   XII 

EMANCIPATION 

PKIOR  to  1861  the  struggle  over  slavery  was 
principally  involved  in  the  effort  to  change  the 
line  that  separated  slave  from  free  territory; 
and  when  the  contest  began  to  threaten  the  exist 
ence  of  the  Union,  the  efforts  of  our  statesmen 
were  directed  towards  adopting  some  expedient 
which  might  temporarily  restore  the  peace.  As 
usually  happens,  violence  was  an  important 
factor  in  determining  the  character  of  the  com 
promise,  and  the  most  clamorous  party  either 
got  the  best  of  the  bargain,  or,  if  it  failed  to 
accomplish  that,  proceeded  to  set  it  aside  with 
little  ceremony.  Thus  with  alternations  of 
chills  and  fever  the  nation  approached  the 
crisis.  The  only  great  party  that  had  ever 
assumed  anything  approaching  an  aggressive 
attitude  upon  the  anti-slavery  side  of  the  sla 
very  question  had  triumphed,  and  elected  a 
President  of  the  United  States.  Slavery  had 
been  dealt  a  harder  blow,  so  far  as  the  ballot 
could  administer  one,  than  it  had  ever  received, 


EMANCIPATION  211 

and  it  immediately  became  violent  in  proportion 
to  the  force  of  the  blow.  Then  the  Southern 
leaders  began  again  to  threaten  rebellion  and 
secession.  It  is  not  strange  that  American 
statesmen  should  have  thought  that  they  de 
tected  the  favorite  and  well-known  national 
disease,  and  that  they  should  have  set  about 
prescribing  the  time-honored  remedy  of  a  com 
promise.  The  expiring  effort  of  the  old  order 
of  statesmanship  was  seen  in  the  offer  of  a 
constitutional  amendment,  making  it  impossible 
even  to  confer  upon  Congress  the  power  to  in 
terfere  with  slavery  in  any  State.  This  offer, 
too,  was  made  in  the  flush  of  the  first  great 
anti-slavery  triumph  in  the  nation. 

But  the  medicine  had  been  tried  too  often, 
and  had  finally  lost  all  virtue.  The  violence, 
which  had  so  often  demanded  compromise,  had 
increased  until  it  had  at  last  reached  the  point 
of  causing  war.  Even  after  the  appeal  had 
been  taken  to  arms  the  old  habits  of  thought 
were  still  strong,  and  three  months  after  Fort 
Sumter  had  been  fired  upon,  Congress  almost 
unanimously  passed  the  Crittenden  resolutions 
which  Stevens,  without  great  exaggeration, 
characterized  as  an  apology  for  fighting,  and 
which,  whether  they  were  apologetic  or  not, 
were  cast  in  the  old  compromise  mould. 

But  the  education  of  the  Northern  people, 


212  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

for  which  they  were  beginning  to  pay  so  roundly 
in  blood  and  treasure,  proceeded  rapidly,  and 
the  same  Crittenden  resolutions,  which  passed 
almost  unanimously  in  July,  were,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  upon  the  motion  of  Stevens, 
promptly  laid  upon  the  table  when  again  offered 
in  the  following  December.  This  action  marked 
the  beginning  of  the  ascendency  of  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  in  Congress,  and  the  absolute 
end  of  compromise  upon  the  slavery  question. 
Undoubtedly  the  North  had  taken  up  arms  to 
uphold  the  Union,  but  the  struggle  had  not 
proceeded  far  before  two  ideas  became  influen 
tial  in  the  same  direction,  —  the  one,  that  eman 
cipation  was  necessary  as  a  war  measure  to  de 
stroy  the  rebellion;  the  other,  that  the  Union, 
which  had  to  be  saved  by  such  sacrifices,  should 
be  established  upon  a  better  and  more  perma 
nent  basis  than  the  old  Union,  to  which  slavery 
had  been  a  perpetual  menace. 

Any  policy  which  led  to  emancipation  Stevens 
was  prepared  from  the  outset  to  accept.  In 
supporting  the  mild  confiscation  bill  at  the  July 
session  of  1861,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  declare 
his  opinion  that  the  slaves  should  be  armed  if 
the  war  continued.1  On  the  day  of  the  opening 
of  the  very  next  session  he  introduced  a  resolu 
tion,  declaring  that  slavery  caused  the  rebel- 
1  Cong.  Globe,  August  2,  1861. 


EMANCIPATION  213 

lion;  that  there  could  be  "no  solid  and  perma 
nent  peace  and  union  "  in  the  republic  so  long 
as  slavery  existed  within  it;  that  slaves  were 
"used  by  the  rebels  as  essential  means  of  sup 
porting  and  protracting  the  war,"  and  that  by 
the  law  of  nations  it  was  "right  to  liberate  the 
slaves  of  an  enemy  to  weaken  his  power."  His 
resolution  also  provided  "that  the  President  be 
requested  to  declare  free,  and  to  direct  all  our 
generals  and  officers  in  command  to  order  free 
dom  to,  all  slaves  who  shall  leave  their  masters 
or  who  shall  aid  in  quelling  this  rebellion." 
It  also  contained  a  clause  for  the  compensation 
of  loyal  citizens  for  losses  under  the  resolution.1 
He  supported  his  resolution  in  an  extended 
speech  on  January  22,  1862.  He  declared  that 
the  rebellion  was  inevitable,  and  that  "now  is 
the  appropriate  time  to  solve  the  greatest  pro 
blem  ever  submitted  to  civilized  man."  He  did 
not  believe  that  the  North  could  conquer  until 
it  had  adopted  a  new  method  of  warfare.  The 
Southern  soldiers  were  as  brave,  their  generals 
were  as  intelligent  as  those  of  the  North,  and 
they  had  valuable  allies  in  their  swamps,  their 
inaccessible  mountains,  their  climate  which 
would  prove  fatal  to  the  Union  armies,  and 
most  of  all  in  their  slaves.  A  vast  number  of 
Northern  men  of  military  age  would  be  compelled 
1  Cong.  Globe,  December  3,  1861. 


214  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

to  stay  at  home  to  till  the  soil  and  keep  in  mo 
tion  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing  indus 
tries,  but  every  Southern  white  man  fit  for  war 
could  be  spared  for  the  army  without  taking  a 
single  hand  from  the  industrial  pursuits. 

"The  protecting  summer,"  which  would  de 
stroy  our  armies,  "would  enable  them  to  culti 
vate  their  fields  ...  to  furnish  them  the  sinews 
of  war."  While  the  black  man  did  not  carry  a 
gun,  he  was  in  reality  "  the  mainstay  of  the 
war."  He  declared  that  he  would  take  the  slaves 
from  the  fields,  and  set  them  to  "fighting  for 
their  liberty."  He  thought  it  a  "puerile  incon 
sistency"  that  the  North  should  be  willing  to 
kill  the  rebels  in  order  to  prevail,  and  yet  would 
not  use  the  freedom  of  the  slave  as  an  instru 
mentality  to  the  same  end.  He  believed  that 
manumission  was  merciful,  but  would  admit 
for  the  sake  of  argument  that  it  was  "the  most 
terrible  weapon  in  our  armory."  That  was  no 
argument  against  its  use.  "Instruments  of  war 
are  not  selected  on  account  of  their  harmless- 
ness.  You  choose  the  cannon  that  has  the  long 
est  range.  You  throw  the  shell  that  will  kill 
the  most  men  by  its  explosion.  You  grind  to 
its  sharpest  edge  the  sabre  bayonet.  But  you 
object  to  emancipation  because  it  liberates  the 
slaves  of  traitors!"  He  proposed  his  resolu 
tions,  not  only  as  a  war  measure,  but  as  a  per- 


EMANCIPATION  215 

manent  peace  measure.  "The  principles  of  our 
republic  are  wholly  incompatible  with  slavery. 
They  cannot  live  together.  While  you  are 
quelling  this  insurrection  at  such  fearful  cost, 
remove  the  cause,  that  future  generations  may 
live  at  peace." 

He  spoke  with  still  less  reserve  in  a  speech 
later  in  the  same  session  upon  the  course  of 
General  Hunter  in  arming  a  regiment  of  black 
men.1  He  warmly  approved  the  action  of 
Hunter,  and  accused  the  administration  of  be 
ing  under  the  influence  of  "Kentucky  council 
ors,"  so  far  as  the  employment  of  slaves  in  the 
war  was  concerned.  He  did  not  believe  in 
keeping  the  runaway  slaves  employed  in  some 
menial  work  until  the  war  was  over,  in  order 
then  to  send  them  back  to  their  masters  "un 
hurt,  under  the  fugitive  slave  law."  He  de 
clared  that  he  was  in  favor  of  sending  the  army 
through  the  slave  populations  of  the  South  and 
asking  them  "to  come  from  their  masters,  to 
take  the  weapons  which  we  furnish,  and  to  join 
us  in  this  war  of  freedom."  He  denounced  the 
charge  that  "the  blameless  sons  of  Ethiopia" 
were  inhuman  soldiers.  In  the  uprising  in  San 
Domingo  the  blacks  had  done  all  they  could 
to  save  their  masters,  against  whom  they  were 
fighting. 

1  Cong.  Globe,  July  5,  1862. 


216  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Stevens  was  then  ahead  of  public  opinion  in 
his  ideas  of  emancipation,  although  that  opinion 
was  moving  rapidly,  and  he  was  not  far  in 
advance  of  it  in  point  of  time.  On  December 
11,  1861,  he  made  a  pungent  speech  on  a 
resolution  requesting  the  President  to  direct 
General  Halleck  to  withdraw  an  order  he  had 
made,  prohibiting  negroes  from  coming  within 
the  lines  of  our  armies,  and  sending  back  those 
already  there.1  On  March  6,  following,  the 
President  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  asking 
for  the  passage  of  a  joint  resolution  declaring 
that  the  United  States  ought  to  cooperate  with 
any  State  which  may  adopt  gradual  abolishment 
of  slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid, 
to  be  used  by  it  in  its  discretion  to  compensate 
for  the  damage,  public  and  private,  produced 
by  such  change  of  system.  On  March  10,  Mr. 
Koscoe  Conkling  introduced  a  resolution  in  the 
precise  terms  of  that  recommended  by  the  Presi 
dent,  and  it  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  89  to  31. 
Stevens  voted  for  it,  but  he  regarded  it  as  of 
very  little  importance.  On  a  motion  to  post 
pone,  he  said  he  could  not  see  why  one  side 
was  "so  anxious  to  pass  it,  or  the  other  side  so 
anxious  to  defeat  it.  I  think  it  is  about  the 
most  diluted  milk-and-water  gruel  proposition 
that  was  ever  given  to  the  American  nation. 
i  Cong.  Globe,  December  11,  1861. 


EMANCIPATION  217 

(Laughter.)  The  only  reason  I  can  discover 
why  any  gentleman  should  wish  to  postpone  this 
measure  is  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  chemical 
analysis  to  see  whether  there  is  any  poison  in 
it.  (Laughter)."1 

On  April  10th,  on  motion  of  Stevens,  the  / 
House  proceeded  to  consider  the  bill  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  on  the 
next  day  the  bill  passed  by  a  party  vote  and  soon 
became  a  law.  On  May  9  he  warmly  supported 
Mr.  Love  joy's  bill  prohibiting  slavery  in  all 
territories  then  existing,  or  to  be  thereafter  ac 
quired,  and  also  in  forts  and  other  public  places 
and  in  ships  on  the  high  seas.  This  bill  also 
passed.  Thus  the  tendency  towards  emancipa 
tion  appeared  general  and  inevitable,  and  nine 
months  from  the  day  on  which  Stevens  made 
his  speech  in  support  of  his  resolutions  for  free 
dom,  Lincoln  issued  his  proclamation  of  condi 
tional  emancipation.  Undoubtedly  Lincoln's 
action  was  also  a  little  ahead  of  public  opinion. 
After  a  winter  and  summer  spent  in  futile  at 
tempts  to  secure  compensated  emancipation  in 
the  border  states,  and  after  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the 
passage  of  confiscation  acts,  he  had  the  wisdom 
to  see  that  enough  had  been  done  to  alienate 
those  who  were  opposed  to  interference  with  sla- 
1  Cong.  Globe,  March  11,  1862. 


218  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

very,  but  not  enough  to  attract  the  radical  and 
progressive  element  who  believed  that  freedom 
would  be  a  potent  war  measure,  or  who  saw  lit 
tle  to  be  desired  in  a  Union  which  retained  the 
ancient  source  of  contention.  Without  a  doubt 
Lincoln  earnestly  desired  ultimate  freedom,  but 
he  wanted  the  time  to  be  ripe  for  it,  and  he 
was  really  conservative.  If  he  could  have  had 
his  way  he  would  almost  certainly  have  preferred 
a  gradual  process  both  for  emancipation  and 
the  suffrage.  But  his  hand  was  in  a  sense 
forced.  Vallandigham  and  orators  of  his  stripe 
were  not  lacking  in  material  which  they  could 
use  in  their  harangues  to  shock  the  Union  De 
mocrats  with  the  idea  that  they  were  fighting 
an  "abolition  war."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
severest  critics  of  the  administration  were  found 
among  the  abolitionists  themselves. 

Lincoln  determined  that  the  bravest  course 
was  the  safest  course,  and  he  put  emancipation 
as  a  war  measure  squarely  before  the  people 
only  a  few  weeks  before  the  Congressional  elec 
tions  of  1862.  He  declared  that  all  slaves  in 
those  rebel  States  which  should  not  have  sub 
mitted  before  January  1,  1863,  "shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free."  It  was  in  the 
power  of  the  Confederates  to  avoid  the  procla 
mation  by  laying  down  their  arms.  They  were 
not  compelled  to  continue  the  war.  On  the 


EMANCIPATION  219 

other  hand,  if  they  were  to  keep  on  fighting 
indefinitely  they  could  not  expect  the  North  to 
cherish  their  institution  any  longer. 

It  was  well  that  Lincoln  displayed  all  his 
consummate  skill  as  a  politician  in  framing  the 
issue  as  he  did  frame  it,  for  the  election  was  of 
transcendent  importance.  A  hostile  Congress 
meant,  not  merely  delay  and  probably  destruc 
tion  to  the  emancipation  policy,  but  it  meant 
also  reduced  appropriations  for  the  war  and 
great  encouragement  to  the  Confederates.  The 
Democrats  accepted  the  issue ;  indeed  they  were 
anxious  to  raise  it.  In  the  Pennsylvania  con 
vention,  which  had  met  nearly  three  months  be 
fore  the  emancipation  proclamation  was  issued, 
they  resolved  that  "this  is  a  government  of 
white  men,  and  was  established  exclusively  for 
the  white  race,"  and  that  the  policy  which  would 
"turn  loose  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States  to 
overrun  the  North,  and  to  enter  into  competi 
tion  with  the  white  laboring  masses,  thus  de 
grading  their  manhood  by  placing  them  on  an 
equality  with  negroes,  is  insulting  to  our  race, 
and  meets  our  most  emphatic  and  unqualified 
condemnation."  This  declaration  was  temper 
ate  and  conservative  in  comparison  with  the 
platforms  of  the  same  party  in  other  States. 
They  could  not  with  any  show  of  success  make 
the  issue  against  fighting  for  the  restoration  of 


220  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  Union.  Upon  that  ground  there  was  room 
for  only  one  party.  But  if  they  could  make  it 
appear  that  the  war  was  prosecuted  to  interfere 
with  the  "institutions  of  the  States,"  or  to 
establish  political  equality  between  the  black 
man  and  the  white,  they  would  stand  some 
prospect  of  success.  The  sentiment  to  which 
they  appealed  was  then  waning;  but  one  year 
earlier  it  would  have  swept  the  country.  The 
stake  was  tremendous,  and  the  result  was  looked 
forward  to  with  great  anxiety. 

The  early  elections  were  disastrous.  In  Ohio 
the  Democrats  carried  fourteen  districts  out  of 
nineteen;  in  Indiana  eight  out  of  eleven,  and 
in  Pennsylvania  after  a  desperate  struggle  they 
divided  the  delegation  equally  with  the  Repub 
licans,  and  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  polling 
a  formidable  vote  against  Stevens,  who  at  the 
preceding  election  had  been  practically  unop 
posed.1  New  York  was  carried  by  the  Demo 
crats,  as  was  also  the  President's  own  State  of 
Illinois,  where  the  Republicans  secured  only 
three  members  out  of  fourteen.  In  the  great 
cordon  of  free  States,  beginning  with  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  on  the  Atlantic,  and  extending 
to  the  Mississippi,  the  Democrats  received  a 
majority  of  twenty-three  members. 

1  In  1860  Stevens  received  12,964  votes  against  470  for  all 
others;  in  1862,  11,174  against  6,650  for  Steinson,  Democrat. 


EMANCIPATION  221 

But  the  cause  of  freedom  was  upheld  by  the 
extreme  East  and  the  extreme  West,  and, 
strangely  enough,  by  those  slave  States  which 
remained  in  the  Union.  Massachusetts  sent  a 
solid  Eepublican  delegation,  as  also  did  Iowa 
and  California,  and  the  new  States  of  Kansas 
and  Minnesota.  Out  of  twenty-six  members, 
the  slave  States  returned  twenty-one  Republi 
cans,  which  proved  to  be  almost  the  exact  num 
ber  of  the  Republican  majority  in  the  House. 
The  administration  losses  had  been  serious  when 
compared  with  the  two-thirds  membership  which 
it  had  held  in  the  House  during  the  thirty-sev 
enth  Congress.  The  heavy  burdens  of  nearly 
two  years  of  indecisive  war  could  undoubtedly 
be  charged  with  some  of  this  loss,  and  if  some 
of  it  also  was  to  be  attributed  to  emancipation, 
at  least  it  was  a  great  gain  that  the  final  plunge 
had  been  taken  and  that  a  majority  had  sanc 
tioned  freedom. 

When  the  last  session  of  the  thirty-seventh 
Congress  opened  in  December,  the  policy  of 
emancipation  had  been  settled  upon,  and  it  only 
remained  to  devise  a  method  for  making  the 
decree  effectual.  Slavery  had  been  withdrawn  as 
a  subject  of  controversy  except  as  between  the 
two  great  political  parties,  and  the  questions 
that  grew  out  of  it  no  longer  remained  to  divide 
seriously  the  party  that  was  responsible  by  the 


222  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

vote  of  the  people  for  the  government  of  the 
country.  But  there  still  existed  a  wide  diver 
sity  of  opinion  as  to  the  method  of  getting  rid 
of  it.  The  President  believed  in  the  wisdom 
of  gradual  emancipation,  and  in  his  annual 
message  to  Congress  in  December,  1862,  he 
somewhat  checked  the  hopes  of  the  extreme  abo 
litionists  by  recommending  a  plan  providing 
compensation  for  any  State  abolishing  slavery 
at  any  time  before  the  year  1900.  A  bill  was 
introduced  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in 
Missouri  on  the  lines  of  the  message,  but  it  was 
defeated  by  filibustering,  and  similar  bills  with 
reference  to  other  States  were  thereupon  aban 
doned.  On  January  1,  Lincoln,  true  to  the 
promise  of  his  proclamation  of  the  preceding 
September,  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring 
that,  as  "a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure,"  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  a  designated  area 
of  rebellion  became  on  that  day  free  men. 

Stevens  still  kept  up  his  fight  for  the  enlist 
ment  of  negro  soldiers.  After  waiting  in  vain 
for  action  by  the  military  committee,  he  boldly 
presented  his  bill  to  the  House,  and  secured 
an  assignment  for  its  consideration  without 
awaiting  the  report  of  any  committee.  This 
unusual  course  excited  violent  opposition,  and 
an  attempt  was  made  to  prevent  a  vote  upon 
the  measure  by  repeated  roll-calls  upon  motions 


EMANCIPATION  223 

to  adjourn  and  other  dilatory  propositions. 
After  an  all  night  session,  the  House  adjourned 
without  action,  but  the  struggle  was  resumed 
at  its  next  meeting  and  continued  for  a  week. 
Stevens  concluded  the  debate  by  a  speech  which 
did  not  lack  bitterness,  and  which  also  did  not 
lack  eloquence.  He  had  spoken  so  many  times 
for  the  cause  that  he  could  "not  refrain  from 
making  one  more  effort  to  secure  to  the  black 
man  the  right  of  fighting  to  be  free.  He  did 
not  expect  to  see  the  day  when  in  a  "Christian 
land  merit  shall  counterbalance  the  crime  of 
color; "  but  he  proposed  "to  give  them  an  equal 
chance  to  meet  death  upon  the  battlefield.  .  .  . 
The  only  place  where  they  can  find  equality  is 
in  the  grave.  There  all  God's  children  are 
equal."  His  efforts  were  at  last  crowned  with 
success;  the  bill  passed  by '83  to  54,  and  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  black  soldiers  who 
enlisted  before  the  end  of  the  war  refuted  by 
their  conduct  the  predictions  that  they  would 
be  guilty  of  inhumanity. 

The  election  of  1862  had  made  emancipation 
a  party  question.  The  Republicans  were  com 
mitted  to  it.  The  Democrats,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  encouraged,  by  their  enormous  gains 
in  the  great  free  States,  to  believe  that  they 
had  at  last  found  a  winning  issue.  The  ill- 
fortune  which  pursued  our  arms  produced  dis- 


224  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

affection  in  the  North,  and  the  draft  was  con 
tributing  to  make  the  war  unpopular  among 
those  who  would  be  patriotic,  provided  that 
they  might  be  permitted  to  stay  at  home.  The 
equal  interest  which  the  soldier  had  in  the 
country,  for  which  he  was  willing  to  fight,  was 
recognized  in  a  few  of  the  States,  and  laws  were 
passed  giving  him  the  ballot;  but  many  times 
more  than  enough  to  turn  the  tide  in  a  reason 
ably  close  election  were  practically  disfranchised, 
and  the  expression  of  the  public  opinion  of  the 
country  was  in  effect  restricted  to  those  who 
pursued  the  arts  of  peace.  Under  all  these 
favoring  circumstances  the  opponents  of  Lincoln 
cherished  no  ill-founded  anticipation,  when  they 
believed  that  they  would  be  able  to  carry  the 
country  at  the  next  general  election. 

But  while  the  great  mass  of  the  soldiers  were 
deprived  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  they  proved 
that  they  could  settle  by  their  valor  the  issues 
which  they  were  forbidden  to  decide  by  their 
votes.  Early  in  July,  1863,  the  decisive  battle 
of  Gettysburg  marked  the  high-water  point  of 
the  rebellion,  and  from  the  moment  when  the 
great  Confederate  commander  led  from  the  field 
what  remained  of  his  magnificent  army,  the 
cause  for  which  he  fought  steadily  declined. 
The  decisive  blow  struck  by  Grant  at  Vicksburg 
followed  Gettysburg  by  only  a  day,  and  the 


EMANCIPATION  225 

result  of  these  two  great  victories  put  an  end  to 
Democratic  hopes. 

At  this  time  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  had 
been  proclaimed  only  for  the  rebel  States,  and 
not  in  those  slave  States  which  remained  loyal, 
and  it  rested  only  upon  an  executive  order.  It 
was  now  determined  to  set  the  matter  forever  at 
rest,  and  to  write  the  decree  of  freedom  in  the 
Constitution.  Soon  after  the  assembling  of  the 
thirty-eighth  Congress  Mr.  Ashley,  of  Ohio, 
proposed  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
abolishing  slavery,  and  later  on  the  same  day 
Mr.  Wilson,  of  Iowa,  introduced  a  similar  reso 
lution.  On  March  28,  1864,  Stevens  proposed 
an  amendment  very  similar  in  phraseology  to 
the  one  which  was  finally  adopted.  It  required 
a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  Houses  to  submit  the 
amendment  for  adoption  to  the  States.  The 
Senate  was  strongly  Republican,  and  the  requi 
site  majority  there  was  secured  with  little  diffi 
culty.  In  the  House,  however,  the  Republicans 
had  a  bare  majority  of  20  in  a  membership  of 
162,  and  upon  the  first  vote  taken  in  June, 
1864,  it  failed  to  receive  the  necessary  two- 
thirds  vote.  A  motion  was  made  to  reconsider, 
and  the  subject  was  postponed  until  the  next 
session. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Union  arms  were  every 
where  successful,  and  the  rebellion  was  reduced 


226  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

to  the  point  of  collapse.  Lincoln  was  elected 
over  McClellan  by  more  than  ten  to  one  of  the 
electoral  vote.  The  Democrats  were  disastrously 
beaten  in  the  Congressional  elections,  and  the 
Kepublicans  secured  many  more  than  the  neces 
sary  two  thirds  of  the  House.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  amendment  was  again  called 
up,  and  when  the  vote  was  taken,  it  was  found 
that  enough  of  the  Democratic  members  had 

O 

patriotically  bowed  to  the  inevitable  to  secure 
its  passage  by  more  than  the  necessary  two- 
thirds  vote.  The  ratification  of  the  amendment 
followed  in  due  time,  and  this  muniment  of 
freedom,  forever  prohibiting  slavery  in  the 
United  States,  became  established  in  the  Con 
stitution. 

Emancipation  was,  above  even  union  itself, 
the  great  contribution  which  the  war  made  to 
the  progress  of  mankind;  but  it  was  only  the 
wisest  statesmanship  that  so  shaped  and  directed 
the  varying  issues  of  the  war  that  freedom  was 
secured  and  the  Union  saved.  In  a  great  in 
stitution  like  slavery,  as  it  existed,  firmly  in 
trenched  by  law  over  a  great  portion  of  the 
country,  there  is  so  much  that  quickly  becomes 
vested,  so  much,  too,  that  is  sure  to  be  inter 
woven  into  the  fabric  of  society,  that  nothing 
short  of  a  great  national  convulsion  can  remove 
it.  It  was  not  difficult  for  those  who  were  not 


EMANCIPATION  227 

financially  interested  in  it,  and  who  looked 
upon  it  from  a  safe  distance,  to  become  im 
pressed  with  a  sense  of  its  wickedness.  But 
how  to  do  away  with  it  was  a  problem  for  the 
profoundest  statesmanship.  The  most  casual 
survey  of  the  course  of  slavery  to  its  extinction 
will  convince  one  both  of  the  danger  of  agitation 
and  of  the  danger  of  compromise,  when  each  of 
them  is  taken  alone,  but  of  the  potency  of  each 
in  finally  setting  in  motion  the  resultant  force 
which  brought  forth  freedom.  Very  many  pa 
triotic  people  were  found  who  were  willing  to 
make  the  best  of  the  evil  in  order  to  be  at 
peace,  or  who  would  at  the  most  employ  pallia 
tives  and  trust  to  time  to  do  the  work  of  regen 
eration.  Others  desired  to  resort  to  methods 
which  were  excessively  heroic,  and  would  have 
killed  the  patient  in  order  to  destroy  the  dis 
ease.  The  progress  and  very  existence  of  so 
ciety  lay  in  the  fact  that  neither  of  these  ex 
treme  views  could  have  its  way,  but  that,  as  a 
result  of  antagonistic,  or  certainly  not  concur 
rent,  forces  a  middle  and  safer  pathway  was 
pursued.  Whether  slavery  could,  within  any 
reasonable  period,  have  been  blotted  out,  except 
through  war,  is  a  question  which  is  even  now 
debated ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  after 
war  had  been  entered  upon,  the  rational  and 
conservative  course  was  taken,  and  instead  of 


228  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

sacrificing  the  Union  by  a  premature  attempt  at 
freedom,  or  delaying  freedom  until  the  Union 
was  lost,  the  time  and  the  methods  were  chosen 
which  made  freedom  more  certain,  and  made  it 
also  an  instrumentality  for  preserving  the  Union. 
It  was  fortunate  that  men  like  Stevens  foresaw 
the  ultimate  result  and  prepared  the  minds  of 
men  to  receive  it.  It  was  fortunate  that  Lin 
coln  apparently  drifted  with  public  opinion  and 
waited  until  the  moment  was  ripe.  The  im 
mortal  event  was  finally  consummated,  not  by 
one  side  or  extreme  of  humanity,  but  as  a  result 
of  the  combined  wisdom  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   BEGINNING  OF  KECONSTRUCTION 

THE  manner  in  which  the  Union  might  prac 
tically  be  restored,  and  the  national  government 
again  set  in  operation  in  the  Southern  States, 
after  peace  returned,  was  anxiously  considered 
long  before  the  war  ended.  Stevens,  indeed, 
had  the  subject  in  view  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  war,  and  had  a  theory  to  meet  the  case. 
I  have  already  referred  to  the  fact  that  at  the 
session  of  Congress  beginning  in  December, 
1861,  he  had  declared  that  the  States  in  rebel 
lion  had  forfeited  all  their  constitutional  rights, 
and  that  a  condition  of  public  and  recognized 
war  existed  between  them  and  the  national 
government.  The  view  which  the  Republican 
party  was  willing  to  accept  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war  was  set  forth  in  the  Crittenden  resolu 
tions.  The  purpose  of  the  war  was  declared 
to  be  to  "maintain"  the  Constitution  and  to 
"preserve"  the  Union  and  "all  the  dignity 
and  equality  and  rights  of  the  several  States." 
Stevens,  however,  dissented  radically  from  that 


230  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

doctrine  at  the  outset.  \The  rights  of  the  seced 
ing  States  under  the  Constitution  were  already 
destroyed,  according  to  his  theory,  by  their 
own  action ;  when  they  should  be  conquered,  it 
would  then  be  for  the  conqueror  to  determine 
what  terms  it  would  be  expedient  and  just  to 
impose,  the  members  who  had  voted  for  the 
Crittentfen  resolutions  in  July  may  not  have 
changed  their  minds  by  December,  but  they 
did  not  care  to  vote  for  them  a  second  time, 
and  when  they  were  again  presented  many  of 
those  members  supported  Stevens 's  motion  to 
lay  them  upon  the  table,  where  they  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  equal  and  unimpaired  rights  of 
loyal  and  rebellious  States  remained  forever 
afterwards. 

In  December,  1862,  Mr.  Vallandigham,  of 
Ohio,  presented  some  resolutions  reaffirming  the 
Crittenden  theory,  with  the  obvious  purpose  of 
censuring  the  President  for  the  departure  from 
that  theory  involved  in  his  first  proclamation 
of  emancipation.  The  resolutions  were  defeated 
by  a  party  vote.  The  Democratic  position  on 
this  vote  was  that  maintained  by  both  parties 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  it  was  consist 
ently  maintained  by  the  Democracy  to  the  end.1 
The  course  of  the  President  and  the  House  was 

1  Chadsey  on  the  struggle  between  President  Johnson  and 
Congress. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION   231 

thus  showing  a  gradual  approach  to  the  position 
of  Stevens,  that  the  Southern  States  could  not 
claim  the  benefits  of  that  Constitution  and  those 
laws  which  they  were  fighting  to  overthrow. 

In  the  spring  of  1862  the  national  forces  cap 
tured  New  Orleans  and  obtained  a  firm  foot 
hold  in  Louisiana.  A  government  was  soon 
organized,  and  two  members  of  Congress  were 
chosen  who  were  ultimately  admitted  to  seats, 
although  upon  what  theory  it  is  difficult  to 
comprehend,  unless  as  an  exercise  of  the  war 
power  which  was  sufficiently  elastic  to  be  made 
to  include  anything.  Upon  the  proposition  to 
admit  them  Stevens  voted  in  the  negative. 

No  step  of  much  significance,  however,  was 
taken  until  the  meeting  of  Congress,  in  Decem 
ber,  1863,  when  the  President  declared  in  his 
message  that  "the  Constitutional  obligation  of 
the  United  States  to  guarantee  to  every  State 
in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  government, 
and  to  protect  the  State  in  such  cases,  is  full 
and  explicit.  .  .  .  An  attempt  to  guarantee  and 
protect  a  revived  state  government  constructed 
in  whole  or  in  preponderating  part  from  the 
very  element  against  whose  hostility  and  vio 
lence  it  is  to  be  protected  is  simply  absurd. 
There  must  be  a  test  by  which  to  separate  the 
opposing  elements  so  as  to  build  only  from  the 
sound,  and  that  test  is  a  sufficiently  liberal  one 


232  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

which  accepts  as  sound  whoever  will  make  a 
sworn  recantation  of  his  former  unsoundness." 
This  was  somewhat  metaphysical,  but  the  mean 
ing  was  clear.  With  reference  to  Louisiana 
the  President  held  that  the  obligations  of  the 
government  to  guarantee  a  republican  form  of 
government  extended  to  the  States  in  rebellion. 
Clearly,  then,  they  were  not  altogether  outside 
of  the  Constitution. 

\/  The  President  at  the  same  time  issued  a  pro 
clamation  in  which  he  set  forth  a  comprehensive 
plan  of  reconstruction.  He  granted  to  all  per 
sons  who  had  participated  in  the  rebellion,  with 
a  few  exceptions,  a  full  pardon  "with  restora 
tion  of  all  rights  of  property  except  as  to 
slaves,"  upon  condition  that  they  should  first 
take  an  oath  to  faithfully  support  and  defend 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  to  support 
and  abide  by  the  laws  and  proclamations  relat 
ing  to  slavery,  "so  long  and  so  far  as  not  modi 
fied  or  declared  void  by  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court."1  He  required  that  enough  must  take 
the  oath  in  any  State  to  cast  one  tenth  as  many 
votes  as  were  cast  in  that  State  for  President  in 
1860.  On  that  condition  a  government  estab 
lished  in  any  State  which  had  seceded  should 
"be  recognized  as  the  true  government  of  the 
State,  and  the  State  shall  receive  thereunder  the 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  p.  38. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    233 

benefits  of  the  Constitutional  provision  which 
declares  that  the  United  States  shall  guarantee 
to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form 
of  government."  The  question  of  the  admis 
sion  of  senators  and  representatives  would  be 
decided  by  the  respective  Houses  of  Congress. 

State  governments  were  established  in  Louis 
iana  and  one  or  two  other  States,  in  pursuance 
of  the  President's  proclamation,  and  constitu 
tions  were  adopted  which  contained  provisions 
abolishing  slavery. 

The  plan  proposed  by  the  President  was  not 
favorably  received  by  the  leaders  of  his  party 
in  Congress.  They  thought  that  so  important 
a  matter  should  have  been  determined  by  legis 
lation,  and  not  by  a  mere  executive  proclama 
tion,  and  the  requirements  were  believed  to  be 
loose  and  easily  evaded.  Stevens  was  the  last 
man  to  be  satisfied  with  such  a  settlement  of 
the  question  as  the  President  proposed.  At 
the  opening  of  the  December  session  of  1863, 
he  had  curtly  moved  to  strike  the  names  of  the 
three  Louisiana  members  from  the  roll  where 
the  clerk  had  placed  them.  He  supported  the 
proposition  to  create  a  special  committee  to  con 
sider  the  President's  plan  of  reconstruction,  and 
he  opposed  the  admission  of  members  of  Con 
gress  elected  under  that  plan  in  the  States  which 
had  adopted  it. 


234  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

A  sharp  issue  was  soon  drawn  between  the 
President  and  Congress.  The  senators  and  re 
presentatives  chosen  by  the  reorganized  state 
governments,  which  he  had  declared  he  would 
recognize,  were  refused  admission  to  seats.  This 
conflict  made  the  situation  doubly  confused. 
So  long  as  Louisiana  clearly  had  the  status  of 
a  rebel  State,  it  was  either  in  or  out  of  the 
Union  according  as  one  adopted  the  Republi 
can  or  the  Democratic  theory.  But  under  the 
President's  plan  it  was  partly  in  and  partly  out, 
and  in  a  position  of  great  uncertainty.  So  far 
as  executive  recognition  had  validity,  it  was  in ; 
but  so  far  as  the  most  important  function  of 
representation  in  Congress  was  concerned,  it 
was  out. 

The  leaders  in  the  two  Houses  were  not 
content  with  merely  refusing  to  recognize  the 
States  which  the  President  had  reconstructed, 
but  they  proceeded  to  form  a  plan  of  their  own, 
and  to  send  it  to  the  President  embodied  in  a 
bill,  which,  if  he  should  sign  it,  would  settle 
all  controversy.  The  congressional  plan,  with 
which  the  name  of  Mr.  Henry  Winter  Davis  is 
particularly  associated,  provided  that  the  Presi 
dent  should  appoint  a  provisional  governor  in 
each  of  the  States  in  rebellion,  and  that  so 
soon  as  resistance  to  the  national  authority  had 
ceased  in  any  State,  the  governor  should  enroll 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    235 

the  white  male  citizens;  and  if  a  majority  of 
them  should  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  then  the  election 
of  delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention  should 
be  ordered.  The  state  constitution  should  con 
tain  provisions  imposing  disabilities  upon  cer 
tain  civil  and  military  officers  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  prohibiting  the  payment  of  all  debts 
incurred  in  aid  of  the  rebellion,  and  abolishing 
slavery.  When  all  requirements  had  been  com 
plied  with  to  the  satisfaction  of  Congress,  the 
President  should  recognize  the  state  govern 
ment,  and  the  State  should  thereupon  become 
entitled  to  representation  in  Congress.  The 
measure  did  not  contain  a  provision  for  negro 
suffrage.1 

Although  the  bill  contained  more  stringent 
provisions  than  the  President  had  imposed, 
Stevens  would  not  accept  it.  He  said  that  it 
"partially  acknowledges  the  rebel  States  to  have 
rights  under  the  Constitution,  which  I  deny,  as 
war  has  abrogated  them  all."  He  objected  to 
it  further,  because  it  adopted  "in  some  measure 
the  idea  that  less  than  a  majority  may  regulate 
.  .  .  the  affairs  of  a  republic,"  and  because 
it  took  away  the  right  of  confiscation. 

In  the  speech  which  he  made  upon  this  bill 
he  stated  again  his  position  that  those  who  sup- 

1  Chadsey,  Reconstruction,  p.  21. 


236  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

ported  the  Confederacy  were  belligerents,  that 
the  right  of  confiscation  existed,  and  he  desired 
such  an  important  right  to  be  preserved;  not 
that  he  would  enforce  it  against  non-combat 
ants  and  those  who  were  forced  into  the  war, 
but  he  would  hold  it  against  the  most  guilty. 
"To  escape  the  consequences  of  my  argument 
he  [Mr.  Blair,  of  Missouri]  denies  that  the 
Confederate  States  have  been  acknowledged  as 
a  belligerent  or  have  established  and  maintained 
independent  governments  de  facto.  Such  assur 
ance  would  deny  that  there  is  a  sun  in1  the  hea 
vens.  They  have  a  Congress,  in  which  eleven 
States  are  represented;  they  have  at  least  300,- 
000  soldiers  in  the  field;  their  pickets  are  al 
most  within  sight  of  Washington;  they  have 
ships  of  war  on  the  ocean  destroying  hundreds 
of  our  ships,  and  our  government  and  the  gov 
ernments  of  Europe  acknowledge  and  treat  them 
as  privateers,  not  as  pirates.  From  whom  do 
privateers  get  their  commissions  except  from  a 
power  independent  either  de  jure  or  de  facto  ? 
There  is  no  reasoning  against  such  impudent 
denials."  He  congratulated  himself  that  the 
House  had  already  accepted  the  proposition  for 
which  he  had  contended.  "I  have  lived  to  see 
the  triumph  of  principles  which,  although  I  had 
full  faith  in  their  ultimate  success,  I  did  not 
expect  to  witness.  If  Providence  should  spare 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION   237 

me  a  little  longer,  until  this  government  shall 
be  so  reconstructed  that  the  foot  of  a  slave  can 
never  again  tread  upon  the  soil  of  the  republic, 
I  shall  be  content  to  accept  any  lot  which  may 
await  me."  The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a 
few  less  than  the  usual  party  majority,  Stevens 
saying,  amid  laughter,  "I  refuse  to  vote  under 
protest." 

It  did  not  reach  the  President  until  within 
ten  days  of  the  day  of  adjournment  of  Congress, 
and  by  his  abstention  from  signing  it,  it  failed 
to  become  a  law.  The  President  justified  this 
"pocket  veto"  by  a  proclamation,  issued  soon 
after  the  adjournment,  in  which  he  said  that 
he  did  not  wish  by  signing  the  bill  "to  be  in 
flexibly  committed  to  any  single  plan  of  restora 
tion,"  or  to  declare  that  the  state  governments 
already  established  should  be  "set  aside  and 
held  for  naught,  thereby  repelling  and  discour 
aging  the  loyal  citizens  who  have  set  up  the 
same." 

The  plan  which  the  President  had  proclaimed 
was  not  carefully  framed,  and  it  was  at  best 
incomplete.  It  provided  for  a  recognition  by 
the  executive  department  alone.  If  Congress 
should  fail  to  extend  recognition  to  a  reestab 
lished  state  government,  it  would  remain  practi 
cally  a  military  government  with  no  clearly 
defined  status.  It  was  manifestly  the  part  of 


238  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

wisdom,  before  beginning  upon  the  work  of 
reconstruction,  for  Congress  and  the  President 
to  agree  upon  some  plan  which,  when  put  into 
effect,  would  complete  the  work  of  restoration. 
There  was  little  practical  wisdom  in  a  course 
which  might  lead  to  contradictory  action  upon 
the  part  of  the  great  departments  of  the  govern 
ment,  when  the  task  was  grave  enough  to  de 
mand  every  resource  which  could  be  brought 
to  bear  through  harmony  and  cooperation. 

The  plan  proposed^by  Congress  was  prepared 
with  much  greater  care.  The  work  t)f  recon 
struction  under  it  would  doubtless  have  been 
more  slow,  but  it  would  have  been  more  certain 
to  be  lasting.  It  was  more  exacting  than  the 
President's  plan,  but  mild  in  the  extreme  when 
compared  with  that  which  was  ultimately 
adopted.  Had  Lincoln  given  it  his  approval, 
the  long  conflict  with  President  Johnson  and 
his  impeachment  would  probably  have  been 
averted,  and  the  anarchy  into  which  some  of 
the  Southern  States  were  plunged,  and  many 
of  the  other  unfortunate  consequences  which  en 
sued,  would  very  likely  have  been  avoided  also. 

The  disagreement  between  the  President  and 
Congress  stopped  the  work  of  reconstruction 
for  the  time,  but  it  was  only  postponed.  With 
the  end  of  the  war  it  was  sure  to  press  for  a 
final  solution.  The  controversy  was  dropped 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION   239 

so  far  as  the  President  was  concerned,  but  Con 
gress  at  its  next  session  returned  to  the  subject 
by  passing  a  resolution,  "declaring  certain 
States  not  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
electoral  college,"  which  was  clearly  aimed  at 
Lincoln's  "ten  per  cent  States,"  as  they  were 
called  by  his  opponents  who  desired  to  be 
facetious.1  The  President  avoided  a  renewal 
of  the  controversy  by  signing  the  resolution, 
and  he  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  announcing 
that  he  did  so  "  in  deference  to  the  view  of  Con 
gress  implied  in  its  passage."  He  added,  how 
ever,  that  the  President  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  counting  of  the  electoral  vote,  and  he  dis 
claimed  "  that  by  signing  said  resolution  he  had 
expressed  any  opinion"  on  its  subject  matter 
or  on  the  recitals  of  the  preamble. 

It  is  not  very  profitable  to  conjecture  what 
the  course  of  reconstruction  would  have  been 
had  Lincoln  lived,  but  it  is  certain  that  he 
clung  to  his  views  with  much  pertinacity,  and 
in  a  carefully  prepared  speech,  which  he  read 
only  three  days  before  his  death,  he  warmly 
defended  the  "Louisiana  plan."  He  declared, 
with  reference  to  the  men  responsible  for  the 
newly  organized  state  government  of  Louisiana, 
that,  "  if  we  now  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do 
our  utmost  to  disorganize  and  disperse  them. 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  pp.  2-45. 


240  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

We  say  to  the  white  man,  you  are  worthless 
or  worse.  .  .  .  To  the  black  man  we  say,  this 
cup  of  liberty  which  these,  your  old  masters, 
hold  to  your  lips  we  will  dash  from  you.  .  .  . 
If  this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing  to 
both  white  and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring 
Louisiana  into  proper  practical  relations  with 
the  Union,  I  have  so  far  been  unable  to  per 
ceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  recognize  and 
sustain  the  new  government  of  Louisiana  the 
converse  of  all  this  is  made  true."  All  this 
could  only  mean  that  he  believed  in  the  wisdom 
of  the  plan  he  had  proposed,  and  if  that  is  con 
ceded,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  would 
have  adhered  to  it  in  its  substantial  parts.  In 
deed  it  is  hard  to  resist  the  conclusion,  after 
reading  his  elaborate  speech,  that  he  made  it 
with  the  purpose  of  preparing  the  public  mind 
for  the  action  which  the  destruction  of  the  rebel 
lion  would  thrust  upon  him.  "It  may  be  my 
duty,"  he  said,  "to  make  some  new  announce 
ment  to  the  people  of  the  South.  I  am  consid 
ering,  and  shall  not  fail  to  act  when  satisfied 
that  action  will  be  proper."1  In  the  Hamp 
ton  Eoads  conference,  February  3,  1865,  he 
promptly  declared,  when  questioned  on  the  sub 
ject,  that  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  Confeder 
ate  States  ought  to  be  admitted  to  representation 

1  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  Nicolay  and  Hay,  vol.  ix.  pp.  461-463. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    241 

in  Congress,  when  the  war  was  ended;  and  that 
it  was  also  his  opinion  that,  "when  the  resist 
ance  ceased  and  the  national  authority  was 
recognized,  the  States  would  be  immediately  re 
stored  to  their  practical  relations  to  the  Union." 

In  addition  to  Lincoln's  expressions  of  opinion 
on  this  question,  near  the  time  of  his  assassina 
tion,  and  his  own  intimation  that  he  was  about 
to  make  "some  new  announcement,"  not  to  Con 
gress,  but  "to  the  people  of  the  South,"  there 
is  strong  direct  testimony  as  to  the  character  of 
this  announcement.  Mr.  McCulloch,  who  was 
appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury  almost  im 
mediately  after  his  second  inaugural,  and  con 
tinued  in  that  position  under  President  John 
son,  declared  that  the  work  of  reconstruction 
under  Johnson  "was  taken  up  just  where  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  left  it.  The  very  same  instrument 
for  restoring  the  national  authority  over  North 
Carolina,  and  placing  her  where  she  stood  be 
fore  her  attempted  secession,  which  had  been 
approved  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  was  presented  by 
Mr.  Stanton  at  the  first  cabinet  meeting  which 
was  held  at  the  Executive  Mansion  after  Mr. 
Lincoln's  death,  and,  having  been  carefully  con 
sidered  at  two  or  three  meetings,  was  adopted 
as  the  reconstruction  policy  of  the  administra 
tion."  l  Not  improbably  the  "two  or  three  meet- 

1  McCulloch,  Men  and  Measures  of  Half  a  Century,  p.  378. 


242  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

ings"  were  necessary  to  convert  Mr.  Andrew 
Johnson,  who  had  protested  to  Lincoln  against 
the  leniency  of  the  terms  of  the  surrender  at 
Appomattox,  and  who,  by  his  early  presidential 
speeches  upon  the  blackness  of  the  crime  of 
treason  and  the  necessity  for  punishing  it,  con 
firmed  the  general  belief  that  he  regarded  his 
predecessor's  policy  towards  the  rebels  as  too 
mild.1  Mr.  McCulloch's  statement  is  confirmed 
by  General  Grant,2  and  is  powerfully  corrobo 
rated  by  the  fact  that  the  identical  cabinet 
which  served  under  Lincoln  remained  in  office 
under  Johnson,  and  at  so  early  a  time  after  the 
accession  of  the  latter  concurred  unanimously 
in  the  plan  of  reconstruction.  The  plan  itself 
contained  more  stringent  provisions  than  were 
embodied  in  Lincoln's  proclamation  put  forth 
less  than  a  year  and  a  half  earlier.  There 
is  little  room  for  doubt  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
practically  decided  upon  the  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion  which,  six  weeks  after  his  death,  was  pro 
mulgated  by  Andrew  Johnson,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  long  and  bitter  conflict  between  Congress 
and  the  President,  and  led  to  a  condition  of 
things  similar  to  that  in  England  during  the 
Revolution  when  Parliament  was  supreme.  If 

1  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  ii.  pp.  8,  14,  65. 

2  Testimony,  July  18,  1867,  before  Impeachment  Commit 
tee. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RECONSTRUCTION   243 

that  great  man  had  lived,  his  fine  political  sa 
gacity  and  his  popularity  with  the  people  might 
not  have  been  strong  enough  to  carry  through 
his  plan  of  reconstruction,  but  we  can  at  least 
feel  sure  that  his  moderation  would  have  averted 
any  serious  rupture;  that  he  would  not  have 
been  dragged  to  the  bar  of  the  Senate  in  im 
peachment  proceedings,  and  that  Congress,  un 
der  the  lead  of  Stevens,  would  not  have  wielded 
the  supreme  power. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE   JOHNSON   PLAN 

ANDEEW  JOHNSON  took  the  oath  of  office  as 
President,  April  15,  1865.  Although  coming 
from  a  State  which  had  joined  the  rebellion  he 
had  shown  the  most  unflinching  loyalty.  His 
devoted  service  to  the  Union  had  won  him  the 
nomination  for  the  vice-presidency.  Stevens, 
who  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  of  1864, 
voted  for  him,  although  with  the  greatest  reluc 
tance.1  He  was  a  man  of  rugged  honesty  and 
of  no  little  egotism  as  well,  and  was  a  good  deal 
given  to  declaiming  about  the  Constitution  and 
his  own  virtues,  after  the  fashion  of  a  school  of 
statesmen  somewhat  numerous  then  and  by  no 
means  extinct  now. 

But  his  selection  as  a  possible  President  was 
due  to  any  consideration  except  that  of  fit- 

1  Stevens  said  to  Colonel  A.  K.  McClure,  who  was  also  a 
delegate,  after  the  latter  had  voted  for  the  nomination  of 
Johnson :  "  Can't  you  find  a  candidate  for  Vice-President  in 
the  United  States,  without  going  down  to  one  of  those  damned 
rebel  provinces  to  pick  one  up  ?  "  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War 
Times,  p.  260. 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  245 

ness  for  the  position.  He  did  not  possess  the 
special  training  and  natural  aptitude  necessary 
for  the  administration  of  the  office  even  in  quiet 
times;  and  in  the  patience,  discernment,  politi 
cal  tact  and  constructive  capacity,  so  requisite 
for  leadership  in  the  task  of  reestablishing  civil 
government  in  so  many  States  upon  a  perma 
nent  basis,  he  was  conspicuously  lacking.  He 
was  not  long  in  demonstrating  that  his  selection 
had  been  a  mistake.  In  the  speech  which  he 
made  upon  taking  the  oath  as  President,  imme 
diately  after  the  death  of  Lincoln,  he  said  no 
thing  about  the  latter,  little  about  the  country, 
and  much  about  himself.  "Toil  and  an  honest 
advocacy  of  the  great  principles  of  free  govern 
ment,"  he  observed,  "have  been  my  lot." 
Then,  with  characteristic  modesty,  he  added* 
"The  duties  have  been  mine,  the  consequences 
God's."  His  reticence  about  all  things  except 
himself  did  not  produce  a  good  impression,  and 
the  fear  that  it  portended  a  severe  policy  towards 
the  South  was  soon  strengthened  by  his  violent 
denunciation  of  traitors,  who,  he  declared, 
must  be  punished  and  impoverished.  "If  you 
take  the  life  of  one  individual  for  the  murder 
of  another,  .  .  .  what  should  be  done  with  one 
who  is  trying  to  assassinate  this  nation  .  .  .  ? 
The  time  has  arrived,  my  countrymen,  when 
the  American  people  should  be  educated  and 


246  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

taught  what  is  crime,  and  that  treason  ...  is 
the  highest  crime  that  can  be  committed,  and 
those  engaged  in  it  should  suffer  all  its  pen 
alties.  I  know  it  is  very  easy  to  get  up  sym 
pathy  and  sentiment  where  human  blood  is  about 
to  be  shed,  easy  to  acquire  a  reputation  for 
leniency  and  kindness,  but  sometimes  its  effects 
and  practical  operations  produce  misery  and  woe 
to  the  mass  of  mankind."1  These  sentiments, 
uttered  not  merely  in  one  speech,  but  reiterated 
again  and  again,  produced  general  uneasiness, 
and  extorted  even  from  that  stern  old  radical, 
Benjamin  F.  Wade,  an  entreaty  that  he  would 
limit  the  number  to  be  hung  to  a  good  round 
dozen  and  no  more.2 

Under  the  instruction  of  Seward  and  the 
other  statesmen  who  composed  Lincoln's  cabi 
net  and  whom  he  still  retained,  the  President 
made  rapid  progress.  In  six  weeks  after  his 
inauguration  he  promulgated  his  plan  of  re 
construction.  The  plan  was  contained  in  two 
papers  —  one  a  proclamation  of  amnesty  appli 
cable  to  all  the  rebellious  States,  and  the  other 
an  executive  order  having  reference  only  to 
North  Carolina,  but  soon  after  applied  by  suc 
cessive  orders  to  all  the  rebellious  States  not 

1  Johnson's  speech  to  citizens  of  Indiana,  April  21,  McPher- 
Bon's  Reconstruction,  p.  45. 

2  Elaine's  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  ii.  p.  14. 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  247 

included  in  proclamations  issued  by  Lincoln. 
The  amnesty  proclamation  was  almost  identical 
with  Lincoln's  proclamation,  issued  in  Decem 
ber,  1863,  except  that  its  terms  were  not  so 
liberal.  It  granted  a  pardon  for  treason  to  all 
who  should  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  Union,  and  to  obey  all  laws  and 
proclamations  which  had  been  made  with  refer 
ence  to  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  Thirteen 
classes  were  exempted  from  the  privileges  of 
the  proclamations  as  against  only  seven  classes 
in  the  proclamation  of  Lincoln,  and  the  terms 
of  exclusion  were  much  more  sweeping  and 
severe.  With  regard  to  these  classes  it  was 
provided  that  special  application  for  pardon 
should  be  made  in  each  case. 

The  North  Carolina  order  was  exactly  one  in 
theory  with  Lincoln's  "Louisiana  plan,"  and 
was  based  upon  the  clause  of  the  Constitution 
which  provided  that  the  United  States  should 
guarantee  to  each  State  a  republican  form  of 
government.  It  declared  that  the  forces  of  the 
rebellion,  now  almost  overcome,  had  destroyed 
civil  government  in  North  Carolina,  and  that  it 
had  become  necessary  to  carry  out  the  obliga 
tions  of  the  United  States  to  the  people  of  that 
State  and  secure  to  them  a  republican  form  of 
government.  It  appointed  a  provisional  gover 
nor  of  North  Carolina,  and  ordered  him  at  the 


248  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

earliest  practicable  time  to  prescribe  rules  for 
"convening  a  convention,"  composed  of  dele 
gates  chosen  by  the  loyal  people  of  the  State, 
for  the  purpose  of  amending  the  state  constitu 
tion,  and  for  adopting  such  a  republican  form  of 
government  "as  will  entitle  the  State  to  the 
guarantee  of  the  United  States  therefor."  The 
"loyal  people"  were  to  include  only  those  who 
should  take  the  oath  and  receive  the  pardon 
provided  for  in  the  amnesty  proclamation,  and 
they  were  required  to  be  qualified  voters  accord 
ing  to  the  laws  in  force  at  the  time  of  secession. 
The  military  commander  in  the  State  was  ordered 
to  assist  the  governor;  the  postmaster-general 
was  instructed  to  establish  post  offices  and  post 
routes,  and  the  heads  of  the  other  departments 
were  directed  to  enforce  throughout  the  State 
the  national  laws  under  their  respective  jurisdic 
tions.  Thus  the  work  of  reconstruction  was 
imposed  upon  the  white  race,  and  in  effect  was 
put  in  the  control  of  those  who  had  participated 
in  the  rebellion.  Since  the  latter  were  greatly 
in  the  majority,  the  formation  of  the  new  Con 
stitution  which  was  to  establish  the  conditions 
of  the  suffrage  and  of  other  fundamental  rights, 
was  to  be  committed  to  their  hands. 

The  conventions  called  for  by  the  successive 
proclamations  were  quickly  held,  the  old  state 
constitutions  were  repaired,  and  in  a  wonder- 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  249 

fully  short  time  the  legislatures  were  in  session 
passing  laws,  and  senators  and  representatives 
for  the  national  Congress  were  chosen.  The 
first  acts  of  the  provisional  governments  were 
regarded  by  the  people  of  the  North  with  the 
most  intense  and  friendly  interest.  The  pas 
sions  of  the  war  had  not  wholly  subsided;  but 
there  was  heartfelt  rejoicing  that  the  bloody 
contest  was  over,  and  a  general  desire  to  witness 
the  reestablishment  of  state  governments  at  the 
South  and  the  complete  restoration  of  the  Union. 
Andrew  Johnson,  too,  had  won  golden  opinions 
by  his  patriotic  course  as  the  "war  governor  "  of 
Tennessee,  and  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of  popu 
larity  in  the  North.  The  one  point  which  ex 
cited  the  most  interest  was  the  treatment  that 
was  to  be  accorded  to  the  negro  by  the  new  gov 
ernments. 

There  was  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  even 
among  Republicans  as  to  the  wisdom  of  confer 
ring  the  ballot  upon  the  newly  liberated  slave, 
but  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion,  among 
all  loyal  men  of  whatever  party,  as  to  the  neces 
sity  of  maintaining  inviolable  the  freedom  which 
had  been  won  for  him  at  such  great  cost.  It 
was  unfortunate,  although  it  was  not  unnatural, 
that  the  new  legislatures  should  not  have  appre 
ciated  the  great  importance  of  leaving  the  negro 
alone,  if  they  could  not  treat  him  without  dis- 


250  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

crimination.  But  most  of  them  speedily  pro 
ceeded  to  enact  laws  expressly  aimed  at  the 
freedmen.  A  sufficient  reference  to  these  laws 
to  illustrate  their  general  character  is  necessary, 
because  they  had  a  vital  effect  in  determining 
future  legislation  upon  reconstruction,  and  espe 
cially  in  producing  the  antagonism  between 
Congress  and  the  President,  of  whose  policy 
they  were  the  first  fruits. 

The  legislature  of  Mississippi  passed  laws 
requiring  certain  officers  to  report  to  the  pro 
bate  courts  all  free  negroes  under  the  age  of 
eighteen,  whose  parents  were  without  the  means 
to  support  them  or  refused  to  do  so,  and  that 
the  court  should  thereupon  order  them  to  be  ap 
prenticed  until  they  became  of  age.  In  choosing 
the  master  for  the  new  apprentice  the  former 
owner  was  to  have  a  preference.  Severe  penal 
ties  were  enacted  in  case  the  "apprentice"  ran 
away,  or  if  any  person  furnished  him  with  food 
and  clothing.  When  poverty  was  so  universal 
among  both  blacks  and  whites  very  few  colored 
people  -could  judicially  prove  that  they  had  the 
means  of  supporting  their  children.  The  same 
legislature  enacted  that  all  free  negroes  over 
eighteen  years  of  age,  found  with  no  lawful 
employment  or  business,  should  be  deemed  va 
grants,  and  be  subject  to  a  heavy  fine.  If 
unable  to  pay  the  fine  the  freedman  was  to  be 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  251 

"hired  out,"  preferably  to  his  old  master,  for 
a  term  sufficient  to  produce  the  amount  of  the 
fine.1 

Another  act  was  passed  relating  to  the  "em 
ployment"  of  freedmen,  with  provisions  of  for 
feiture  of  rights  for  violation  of  the  contract, 
which  left  the  payment  of  wages  practically 
optional  with  the  employer.  Any  negro  who 
should  quit  the  service  of  his  "employer"  be 
fore  the  expiration  of  his  contract  became  prac 
tically  an  outlaw,  and  any  one  giving  him  food 
or  clothing  became  liable  to  an  action  for  dam 
ages  by  the  "employer,"  to  a  heavy  fine,  and 
to  possible  imprisonment. 

The  laws  of  South  Carolina  were  drafted 
upon  the  same  lines  as  those  of  Mississippi. 
"All  persons  of  color"  making  contracts  of 
labor  were  to  be  known  as  servants,  and  their 
employers  as  masters.  In  order  to  follow  any 
pursuit,  except  one  of  the  most  menial  charac 
ter,  a  colored  man  was  required  to  pay  a  license 
fee,  which  was  practically  prohibitory,  and 
which  was  not  required  of  a  white  man. 

Special  crimes  were  created  and  special  penal 
ties  imposed  upon  the  black  race.  The  unequal 
character  of  these  laws  led  to  the  intervention 
of  General  Sickles,  the  military  commander  of 
that  department,  who  issued  an  order  which 
1  Act  of  November  24,  1865. 


252  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

caused  the  military  law  to  shine  for  once  in 
comparison  with  civil  justice.  It  practically 
set  the  code  aside  and  declared  that  "all  laws 
shall  be  applicable  alike  to  all  the  inhabitants,'' 
and  that  a  freedman  should  not  be  obliged  uto 
pay  any  tax  or  any  fee  for  a  license,  nor  be 
amenable  to  any  municipal  or  parish  ordinance, 
not  imposed  upon  all  other  persons." 1 

The  Johnson  legislature  in  Alabama  passed 
bills  relating  to  contracts  for  labor,  which  went 
far  towards  doing  away  with  the  emancipation 
proclamation.  They  devised  an  easy  way  back 
to  slavery  for  men  and  women,  and  one  that 
was  even  more  effective  for  children.  Perhaps 
the  most  vicious  of  these  statutes  was  the  new 
charter  of  Mobile,  which  attached  to  the  crime 
of  poverty,  universal  and  inevitable  among  the 
black  race  at  that  time,  a  penalty  of  six 
months'  labor  for  the  benefit  of  the  city,  and 
made  it  possible  to  rebuild  its  neglected  streets, 
wharves,  and  other  public  works  out  of  the  un- 
compensated  labor  of  the  freedmen.  Some  of 
the  worst  of  the  bills  failed  to  become  laws 
through  a  courageous  use  of  the  veto  power  by 
Governor  Pat  ton.2 

The  laws  of  Florida  created  a  criminal  court, 
with  jurisdiction  to  try  for  vagrancy  and  other 

1  Order  of  January  17,  1866. 

2  McPherson's  Reconstruction,  p.  21. 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  253 

crimes  for  which  capital  punishment  was  not 
provided.  In  the  proceedings  of  this  court  no 
indictment  or  written  pleadings  were  required. 
If  any  fine  should  not  be  paid,  the  "vagrant" 
might  be  put  to  such  labor  as  the  county  com 
missioner  should  direct,  or  might  be  "hired 
out"  by  that  official  to  any  person  who  would 
take  him  for  the  shortest  time  and  pay  the 
fine  and  costs.1  Special  criminal  statutes  were 
passed,  aimed  at  the  negro,  and  providing  for 
contracts  for  labor  with  "persons  of  color." 

These  "contracts  "  were  given  a  peculiar 
sanctity  so  far  as  the  obligations  of  the  black 
man  were  concerned.  A  violation  on  the  part 
of  the  employer  would  subject  him  to  a  mere 
civil  liability,  in  the  shape  of  a  proceeding  for 
damages,  for  breach  of  contract;  but  a  viola 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  black  man  constituted  a 
heinous  crime,  for  which  he  was  liable  to  be  pil 
loried,  or  whipped  with  thirty-nine  lashes,  or 
"hired  out  for  one  year." 

But  it  is  monotonous  iteration  to  review  the 
early  legislation  of  the  reconstructed  govern 
ments  established  under  the  proclamation  of 
the  President.  In  most  of  the  States  the  laws 
established  a  condition  but  little  better  than 
that  of  slavery,  and  in  one  important  respect 
far  worse;  for  in  place  of  the  property  interest, 
1  Act  of  January  11,  1866. 


254  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

which  would  induce  the  owner  to  preserve  and 
care  for  his  slave,  there  was  substituted  the 
guardianship  of  penal  statutes ;  and  the  ignorant 
black  man,  innocent  of  any  intention  to  commit 
a  wrong,  could  be  bandied  about  from  one 
temporary  owner  to  another  who  would  have  no 
other  interest  than  to  wring  out  of  him,  with 
out  regard  to  his  ultimate  condition,  all  that 
was  possible  during  the  limited  term  of  his 
thraldom. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  excuse  these 
laws  by  the  assertion  that  similar  statutes 
existed  in  Northern  States.1  This  amounts  to 
a  very  slender  justification.  In  the  first  place 
the  Northern  statutes,  which  are  called  similar, 
applied  impartially  to  all  races.  Most  of  the 
statutes  which  I  have  referred  to  were  leveled 
at  the  negro  alone  and  discriminated  against 
him.  Doubtless  a  great  many  unwise  laws,  the 
accumulation  of  a  century,  could  be  found  on  the 
statute  books  of  the  older  States,  which  had  es 
caped  the  attention  of  the  people  and  legislators 
alike,  and  had  become  obsolete.  But  it  would 
surely  have  been  a  scanty  display  of  political 
wisdom  for  the  newly  established  state  govern 
ments  of  the  South  to  extract  these  vicious 
principles  and  embody  them  in  laws  against  the 
black  race,  in  their  very  earliest  exercise  of 

1  Why  the  Solid  South  ?  H.  A.  Herbert,  pp.  32-36. 


THE  JOHNSON  PLAN  255 

legislative  power,  and  when  the  eyes  of  the 
nation  were  upon  them  to  see  whether  the  free 
dom  which  resulted  from  a  great  war  could  be 
safely  intrusted  to  their  hands.  It  was  most 
unfortunate,  in  view  of  the  formative  condition 
of  opinion  among  the  Northern  people,  that 
those  particular  statutes  should  have  been  en 
acted  at  that  particular  time.  A  most  unfavor 
able  impression  was  produced  at  the  North. 
The  people  there  felt  that  emancipation  was 
liable  to  be  nullified  to  a  considerable  extent  by 
state  laws,  if  the  making  of  the  laws  was  exclu 
sively  intrusted  to  the  former  master.  Then, 
for  the  first  time,  the  opinion  became  widespread 
that  the  newly  acquired  freedom  must  be  armed 
with  the  ballot.  The  first  results  of  Johnson's 
reconstruction  policy  thus  established  its  un 
popularity  at  the  North  and  paved  the  way  for 
a  radical  reaction. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   RUPTURE  WITH   THE   PRESIDENT 

WHILE  the  new  legislatures  of  the  Southern 
States  were  about  the  work  of  passing  their 
vagrant  and  labor  laws,  the  thirty-ninth  Con 
gress  assembled  for  the  first  time.  The  over 
whelming  Republican  victory  in  1864  had  se 
cured  to  that  party  a  great  majority  in  both 
Houses.  For  a  second  time  the  policy  of  a 
Republican  President  upon  the  reconstruction 
of  the  rebellious  States  was  to  come  before 
Congress.  It  came  now  with  even  greater  sanc 
tion,  because  Johnson's  policy  had  been  Lin 
coln's,  and  because,  too,  the  war  was  now 
ended.  The  issue  was  a  momentous  one. 
Would  Congress  break  with  the  President  and 
refuse  to  recognize  his  state  governments? 

The  clerk  of  the  preceding  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  whose  duty  it  was  to  make  up  the 
list  of  members-elect,  had  excluded  from  the 
roll  the  names  of  those  who  presented  creden 
tials  of  election  from  the  reconstructed  Southern 
States.  The  issue  was  raised  at  the  outset,  and 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    257 

the  strongest  possible  case  was  first  presented 
by  the  Democrats.  Before  the  speaker  was 
elected,  Mr.  Brooks  demanded  to  have  it  de 
cided  whether  Mr.  Maynard,  a  prominent  Re 
publican  from  Tennessee,  was  entitled  to  his 
seat.  If  Tennessee  is  not  in  the  Union,  Mr. 
Brooks  argued,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  who  comes  from  that  State,  must  be  a 
foreigner  and  a  usurper.  The  Congress  imme 
diately  preceding  that  one  had  permitted  the 
members  from  Louisiana  to  take  their  seats  and 
vote  for  speaker.  Why  should  the  members  of 
the  same  State  be  excluded  now?  The  clerk, 
Mr.  Brooks  declared,  had  excluded  the  South 
ern  members  from  the  roll  because  of  a  resolu 
tion  passed  at  a  caucus  of  Republican  members. 
He  intimated  to  Stevens  that  he  should  be  glad 
to  know  "  at  what  period  he  intends  to  press  this 
resolution,  of  which  he  is  to  be  the  organ." 

Stevens  sat  with  the  resolution  in  his  pocket 
which  was  to  work  the  commencement  of  that 
memorable  conflict  between  the  President  and 
Congress,  which  transcends  in  importance  any 
other  political  struggle  in  our  history.  He  had 
a  large  majority  at  his  back,  and  was  about  to 
see  the  beginning  of  the  triumph  of  the  ideas 
which  he  had  long  advocated,  and  for  which 
he  had  been  denounced  as  a  radical.  If  he  was 
impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  crisis  he  cer- 


258  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

tainly  did  not  show  it.  He  could  not  even  re 
frain  from  making  Brooks  the  victim  of  a  gen 
eral  laugh.  "I  have  no  objection  to  answer 
the  gentleman,"  he  said  in  a  tone  of  mock  seri 
ousness.  "I  propose  to  press  it  at  the  proper 
time." 

The  House  proceeded  at  once  to  elect  its 
officers,  and  after  that  had  been  done,  and  be 
fore  the  reception  of  the  annual  message  of  the 
President,  Stevens  offered  his  resolution,  which 
provided  for  a  joint  committee  on  reconstruc 
tion,  to  be  composed  of  nine  representatives 
and  six  senators,  who  should  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  Southern  States  and  "report 
whether  they  or  any  of  them  are  entitled  to  be 
represented  in  either  House  of  Congress;  .  .  . 
and  until  such  report  shall  have  been  made 
and  finally  acted  upon  by  Congress,  no  member 
shall  be  received  into  either  House  from  any  of 
the  said  so-called  Confederate  States."  He 
moved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  also  for  the 
previous  question,  which  cut  off  all  debate,  and 
his  resolution  passed  by  133  to  36. 

As  a  mere  piece  of  political  strategy  this 
move  was  admirable.  In  all  probability  the 
House  would  not  at  that  time  have  voted  to 
condemn  the  policy  of  the  President.  It  was 
regarded  as  the  policy,  not  only  of  Johnson, 
but  also  of  Lincoln,  and  the  influence  of  Lin- 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    259 

coin  had  never  been  so  potent  as  during  the 
year  which  followed  his  assassination.  More 
over,  the  Southern  legislatures  had  not  yet  pro 
ceeded  far  in  their  work  of  passing  discriminat 
ing  laws,  and  the  tendency  of  the  new  system  was 
not  generally  seen.  Stevens,  however,  already 
discerned  the  unpopularity  to  which  the  policy 
of  the  President  was  predestined,  and  he  desired 
to  give  time  for  the  storm  to  gather.  What 
could  be  more  fitting  than  to  have  the  whole 
matter  carefully  considered  by  a  committee  of 
Congress  before  it  should  be  decided?  And  so, 
without  even  learning  the  plea  which  the  Presi 
dent's  message  contained,  he  shrewdly  procured 
an  adjournment  of  the  question  while  a  com 
mittee  should  investigate,  and  the  presidential 
policies,  working  out  their  own  destruction, 
should  at  last  give  way  to  the  ideas  for  which 
he  himself  had  contended.  Before  that  day 
Stevens  had  been  the  leader  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Henceforth  he  was  to  be  its 
dictator  and  the  leader  of  his  party  throughout 
the  country. 

Stevens  was  made  the  House  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Reconstruction,  and  among  his  as 
sociates  were  such  prominent  men  as  Bingham, 
Washburne,  Boutwell,  Conklkig  and  Morrill. 
The  appropriation  bills  were  taken  from  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  from  which 


260  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Stevens  retired,  and  given  to  a  new  committee. 
Stevens  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  first 
Committee  on  Appropriations.  Important  as 
was  the  work  of  the  latter  committee  it  was 
largely  of  a  routine  character,  and  his  attention 
was  absorbed  by  the  great  problem  of  recon 
struction  and  kindred  subjects.  On  the  second 
day  of  the  session  he  proposed  a  series  of  amend 
ments  to  the  Constitution,  prohibiting  the  pay 
ment  of  the  Confederate  debt  by  any  State  or 
by  the  United  States ;  apportioning  representa 
tives  among  the  States  according  to  the  number 
of  their  respective  legal  voters,  and  declaring 
that  all  national  and  state  laws  should  be  equally 
applicable  to  every  citizen  without  discrimina 
tion  on  account  of  race. 

Nearly  all  these  propositions  were  afterwards 
incorporated  in  substance  in  the  fourteenth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which  Stevens 
reported  from  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction 
during  the  same  session,  but  in  a  form  which  in 
one  important  particular  was  far  less  effective. 
His  proposition  to  base  representation  upon  the 
number  of  legal  voters,  to  be  ascertained  by  the 
national  census,  was  self -operating,  and  would 
have  been  far  more  effective  than  the  mere  gen 
eralization  which  took  its  place  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  which,  though  often  violated,  has  never 
once  been  enforced. 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    261 

He  lost  no  opportunity  to  impress  upon  Con 
gress  his  views  upon  the  constitutional  status 
of  the  Confederate  States.  He  opened  the  de 
bate  on  reconstruction,  in  a  somewhat  lengthy 
speech,  for  him,  on  December  18,  1865.  He 
attacked  the  position  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson, 
which  assumed  that  reconstruction  was  within 
the  province  of  the  Executive.  "  There  is," 
he  said,  "fortunately,  no  difficulty  in  solving 
the  question.  There  are  two  provisions  in  the 
Constitution,  under  one  of  which  the  case  must 
fall.  The  fourth  article  says  that  '  new  States 
may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union.'  In  my  judgment  this  is  the  control 
ling  provision  in  this  case.  Unless  the  law  of 
nations  is  a  dead  letter,  the  late  war  between 
two  acknowledged  belligerents  severed  their  ori 
ginal  compacts,  and  broke  all  the  ties  that  bound 
them  together.  The  future  condition  of  the  con 
quered  power  depends  on  the  will  of  the  con 
queror.  They  must  come  in  as  new  States  or 
remain  as  conquered  provinces.  Congress  — 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresentatives,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  President  —  is  the  only 
power  that  can  act  in  the  matter.  But  suppose, 
as  some  dreaming  theorists  imagine,  that  these 
States  have  never  been  out  of  the  Union,  but 
have  only  destroyed  their  state  governments  so 
as  to  be  incapable  of  political  action,  then  the 


262  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  applies,  which 
says :  4  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to 
every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of 
government. '  Who  is  the  United  States  ?  Not 
the  Judiciary;  not  the  President;  but  the  sov 
ereign  power  of  the  people,  exercised  through 
their  representatives  in  Congress  with  the  con 
currence  of  the  Executive.  It  means  the  politi 
cal  government,  the  concurrent  action  of  both 
branches  of  Congress  and  the  Executive.  The 
separate  action  of  each  amounts  to  nothing, 
either  in  admitting  new  States  or  guaranteeing 
republican  governments  to  lapsed  or  outlawed 
States." 

After  expounding  his  well  known  arguments 
upon  this  proposition,  he  said  that  those  States 
should  not  be  admitted  to  the  Union  until  the 
principles  embodied  in  his  proposed  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  should  be  established  in  that 
instrument,  and  especially  the  amendment  basing 
representation  upon  the  number  of  legal  voters. 
If  they  were  admitted  with  the  basis  unchanged, 
they  would,  with  the  aid  of  Northern  Demo 
crats,  "  at  the  very  first  election  take  possession 
of  the  White  House  and  the  halls  of  Congress." 
They  might  then  assume  the  Confederate  debt, 
repudiate  the  Union  debt,  and  reestablish  slav 
ery.  He  proposed  to  take  no  such  chances 
while  the  North  was  the  conqueror.  He  boldly 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    263 

proposed  negro  suffrage,  and  declared  that,  if 
the  blacks  were  given  the  right  to  vote,  "  there 
would  always  be  Union  white  men  enough  in 
the  South,  aided  by  the  blacks,  to  divide  the 
representation,  and  thus  continue  the  Republi 
can  ascendency."  If  they  were  not  given  the 
right  of  suffrage  in  the  late  slave  States,  the 
representation  of  those  States  would,  under  his 
amendment,  be  so  reduced  as  to  "  render  them 
powerless  for  evil." 

He  referred  to  the  legislatures  of  the  Presi 
dent's  reconstructed  States  as  "the  aggregation 
of  whitewashed  rebels,  who,  without  any  legal 
authority,  have  assembled  in  the  capitols  of  the 
late  rebel  States  and  simulated  legislative 
bodies."  The  doctrine  that  this  was  a  "white 
man's  government "  he  declared  to  be  "  as  atro 
cious  as  the  infamous  sentiment  that  damned  the 
late  chief  justice  to  everlasting  fame,  and  I  fear 
to  everlasting  fire." 

When  Stevens  delivered  this  speech  he  had 
evidently  not  advanced  to  the  position  of  requir 
ing  the  concession  of  negro  suffrage  as  a  condi 
tion  of  the  readmission  of  the  Southern  States ; 
but  he  proposed,  by  basing  representation  upon 
the  number  of  legal  voters,  to  make  it  to  their 
political  interest  to  grant  the  franchise,  and  to 
leave  the  question  in  that  form  to  the  decision  of 
each  State.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  negro 


264  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

should  count  in  the  representation,  if  he  were 
not  permitted  to  vote.  He  estimated  that  those 
States  would  have  eighty-three  representatives, 
if  the  blacks  were  counted,  and  forty-six  if  they 
were  excluded,  and  that  the  opportunity  to  mul 
tiply  their  representation  almost  by  two  would 
induce  them  to  confer  the  suffrage  upon  the 
negro. 

This  speech  mortally  offended  the  administra 
tion,  and  it  was  determined  that  a  reply  should 
be  made  at  once,  in  order  to  check  its  influence 
upon  the  country.  The  friends  of  the  Presi 
dent's  policy  were  few  in  number  among  the 
Kepublicans  of  the  House ;  but  one  was  found, 
Mr.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  who  was  ready  to  de 
fend  it,  and  who  did  so  with  very  great  abil- 
ity. 

Mr.  Raymond  was  not  a  lawyer,  and  he  failed 
utterly  to  turn  the  coldly  logical  position  which 
Stevens  had  so  long  held,  that  a  condition  of 
public  war  had  existed,  and  that  the  Southern 
States  could  not  be  heard  to  set  up  any  constitu 
tional  or  other  rights  against  the  conqueror,  ex 
cept  such  as  were  granted  by  the  laws  of  war. 
But  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of 
a  liberal  policy  towards  the  South,  regardless  of 
what  her  strict  legal  rights  were,  the  speech  was 
admirable.  Mr.  Shellabarger,  of  Ohio,  replied 
to  the  legal  propositions  of  Mr.  Raymond  in  a 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    265 

speech  of  great  eloquence,  and  the  debate  thus 
inaugurated  was  spun  out  indefinitely  and  with 
constantly  increasing  acrimony. 

Neither  was  it  confined  to  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  for  the  President  himself  was  not 
long  in  taking  part  in  it.  The  appointment  of 
the  Committee  on  Reconstruction  and  the  speech 
of  Stevens  wounded  him  deeply,  and,  as  reti 
cence  could  not  be  numbered  among  his  virtues, 
he  took  an  early  opportunity  to  free  his  mind. 
In  the  course  of  a  speech,  very  formidable  in 
length,  made  on  February  22,  1866,  he  desisted 
from  self-eulogy  long  enough  to  denounce  the 
Committee  on  Reconstruction  as  "  an  irrespon 
sible  central  directory,  'which  had  usurped' 
nearly  all  the  powers  of  Congress."  "  Suppose," 
he  added,  with  that  charming  disregard  of  the 
proprieties  of  his  position  so  characteristic  of 
him,  "  I  should  name  to  you  those  whom  I  look 
upon  as  being  opposed  to  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  this  government,  and  as  now  laboring 
to  destroy  them.  I  say  Thaddeus  Stevens,  of 
Pennsylvania ;  I  say  Charles  Sumner,  of  Massa 
chusetts  ;  I  say  Wendell  Phillips,  of  Massachu 
setts.  .  .  .  An  honest  conviction  is  my  suste 
nance,  the  Constitution  my  guide."  Then  he 
returned  to  his  favorite  themes,  —  Andrew  John 
son  and  the  Constitution.1 

1  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  60,  61. 


266  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

The  President's  speech  gained  no  favor  for  his 
cause  among  his  enemies,  and  the  egotism  and 
undignified  character  of  the  performance  dis 
gusted  many  of  his  friends.  Stevens  made  his 
second  important  contribution  to  the  discussion 
-on  March  10,  1866.  He  taunted  Mr.  Kaymond 
with  failing  to  support  himself  with  a  single  au 
thority  against  the  contention  that  the  rebellious 
States  possessed  any  rights  under  the  Constitu 
tion.  "  The  gentleman,"  he  said,  "  denies  the  cor 
rectness  of  Vattel's  doctrine,  .  .  .  but  he  gives  us 
no  authority  but  his  own.  I  admit  the  gravity 
of  the  gentleman's  opinion,  and  with  the  slight 
est  corroborating  authority  should  yield  the  case. 
But  without  some  such  aid  I  am  not  willing  that 
the  sages  of  the  law  whom  I  have  been  accus 
tomed  to  revere,  —  Grotius,  Rutherford,  Vattel, 
and  a  long  line  of  compeers,  —  sustained  by  the 
verdict  of  the  civilized  world,  should  be  over 
thrown  and  demolished  by  the  single  arm  of  the 
gentleman  from  New  York.  ...  I  pray  the  gen 
tleman  to  quote  authority ;  not  to  put  too  heavy 
a  load  upon  his  own  judgment ;  he  might  sink 
under  the  weight.  Give  us  your  author." 

Stevens  denied  that  his  doctrine  involved  the 
efficacy  of  the  secession  ordinances,  "  which 
amounted  to  nothing  either  in  law  or  in  fact.  It 
was  the  formation  of  a  regular,  hostile  govern 
ment,  and  the  raising  and  supporting  of  large 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    267 

armies,  and  for  a  long  time  maintaining  their 
declaration  of  independence,  that  made  them  a 
belligerent  and  the  contest,  war."  He  disputed, 
with  only  apparent  inconsistency,  the  theory  that 
loyal  citizens  alone  made  a  State.  A  State  was 
made  up  of  all  legal  citizens,  good  or  bad,  within 
its  jurisdiction,  and  the  "  control  of  republics 
depends  on  the  number,  not  the  quality,  of  the 
voters.  This  is  not  a  government  of  saints. 
It  has  a  large  sprinkling  of  sinners."  He  then 
proceeded  to  a  serious  eulogy  of  the  President, 
who,  he  said,  had  "  stood  too  firmly  for  the 
Union  in  the  midst  of  dangers  and  sacrifices  to 
allow  me  to  doubt  the  purity  of  his  wishes." 
But  he  must  denounce  his  opinions  when  they 
were  wrong.  "  I  should  have  forgotten  the  oblo 
quy  which  I  have  calmly  borne  for  thirty  years 
in  the  war  for  liberty,  if  I  should  turn  craven 
now."  He  was  evidently  prepared  to  overlook 
the  gross  and  unbecoming  personal  attack  which 
the  President  had  made  upon  him  ;  but  one  of 
the  Democratic  members  interrupted  him,  to  ask 
if  the  Thaddeus  Stevens  whom  the  President  de 
nounced  in  a  speech  was  the  same  person  who 
was  now  eulogizing  him.  This  produced  the 
effect  upon  Stevens  that  was  evidently  intended. 
Did  the  gentleman  suppose,  Stevens  replied, 
that  the  President  ever  made  that  speech  ?  He 
then  convulsed  the  House  with  a  mock  defense 


268  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

of  the  President,  and  insisted  that  he  could  not 
possibly  have  made  the  speech  attributed  to  him. 
He  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  exonerate  the 
President.  The  story  was  a  Democratic  slander. 
Of  course  the  charge  was  not  serious.  "  My  friend 
before  me,  if  he  were  trying  in  court  a  case  de 
lunatico  inquirendo,  and  if  the  outside  evidence 
were  doubtful,  leaving  it  questionable  whether 
the  jury  would  adopt  the  view  that  insanity  ex 
isted,  would  cautiously  lead  the  alleged  lunatic 
to  speak  upon  the  subject  of  the  hallucination, 
and,  if  he  could  be  induced  to  gabble  nonsense, 
the  intrinsic  evidence  of  the  case  would  make 
out  the  allegation  of  insanity.  So,  Mr.  Speaker, 
if  these  slanderers  can  make  the  people  believe 
that  the  President  ever  uttered  that  speech,  then 
they  have  made  out  their  case.  [Laughter.]  But 
we  all  know  he  never  did  utter  it.  [Laughter.]  " 
Then,  he  said,  the  Democrats  had  also  cunningly 
invented  circumstances  to  give  the  story  an  air 
of  truth.  They  said  that  while  the  President 
was  speaking  he  was  supported  by  a  late  "  rebel 
mayor  of  this  city,  who  was  gratuitously  fur 
nished  lodgings  in  one  of  our  penal  forts  for 
some  time.  [Great  laughter.]  The  people  may 
have  been  deceived,  but  we  who  knew  the  Presi 
dent  knew  it  was  a  lie  from  the  start.  [Re 
newed  laughter.]  Now,  sir,  having  shown  my 
friends  that  all  it  is  built  upon  is  fallacious,  I 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    269 

hope  they  will  permit  me  to  occupy  the  same 
friendly  position  with  the  President  I  did  be 
fore.  [Laughter.]  " l 

After  this  diversion  Stevens  proceeded  with 
his  argument.  The  President  had  in  fact  adopted 
the  "  conquered  province  "  theory.  He  had  ap 
pointed  military  governors,  had  fixed  the  qualifi 
cations  of  voters,  and  prescribed  the  kind  of  con 
stitutions  the  States  should  adopt.  What  part 
of  the  Constitution  gave  him  such  powers  over 
a  State  in  the  Union?  He  then  called  ridicule 
into  his  service,  of  which  no  countryman  of 
his  has  ever  been  a  more  adept  master,  in  de 
scribing  the  proceedings  in  the  different  South 
ern  States  under  the  President's  proclamations. 
What  could  be  better,  for  instance,  than  his  re 
ference  to  the  case  of  Virginia,  which  "  had  as 
sembled  the  free  representatives  of  fragments  of 
about  eleven  townships,  out  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-two  counties ;  elected  in  spots  between  the 
contending  armies,  on  disputed  ground,  .  .  . 
twelve  men,  .  .  .  who  met  within  the  Federal 
lines,  called  itself  a  convention,  formed  a  consti 
tution,  ordered  elections  for  the  whole  State,  and 
Governor  Pierpont  received  about  3300  votes  for 
governor,  .  .  .  and  was  proclaimed  in  the  market- 
house  of  Alexandria  governor  of  imperial  Vir- 
ginia,  the  mother  of  statesmen.  In  '  reconstruc- 

1  Congressional,  Globe,  March  10,  1866. 


270  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

tion'  the  President  acknowledged  him  as  the 
governor,  and  those  twelve  as  the  representa 
tives  of  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  people,  and 
counts  this  Virginia  as  one  of  the  twenty-seven 
States  that  adopted  the  constitutional  amend 
ment.  I  am  fond  of  genteel  comedy,  but  this 
low  farce  is  too  vulgar  to  be  acted  on  the  stage 
of  nations.  Are  these  free  republics,  such  as 
the  United  States  are  bound  to  guarantee  to  all 
the  States  in  the  Union  ?  Should  these  swindles, 
these  impostures,  bred  in  the  midst  of  martial 
law,  without  authority  from  Congress,  be  acknow 
ledged  here  ?  "  He  then  exposed  the  inconsist 
encies  in  which  the  President  was  involved  by 
his  theories,  and  urged  again  the  adoption  of  the 
principles  of  his  proposed  constitutional  amend 
ments  as  a  part  of  any  plan  of  reconstruction. 

The  relations  between  the  President  and  his 
party  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  had  by  this 
time  drifted  into  hopeless  antagonism.  The  first 
open  rupture  came  on  the  veto  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  bill.  This  veto,  which  was  sent 
to  Congress  on  February  19,  1866,  had  nar 
rowly  escaped  the  two-thirds  vote.  A  few  very 
conservative  Republican  senators  were  not  pre 
pared  to  break  finally  with  the  President,  and 
voted  to  sustain  him.  A  second  bill  of  the  same 
general  character,  but  free  from  some  of  the  ob 
jections  urged  against  the  first  bill,  was  promptly 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    271 

passed.  This  bill  was  also  vetoed.  The  House 
at  once  passed  it  over  the  veto  by  a  vote  of  more 
than  three  to  one,  and  the  Senate,  very  likely 
influenced  by  the  decisive  action  of  the  House, 
recorded  more  than  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote 
against  the  veto. 

About  the  same  time  the  civil  rights  bill  was 
passed  by  the  two  Houses,  and  received  the  Ex 
ecutive  veto,  which  was  promptly  overridden  by 
more  than  the  required  vote  in  both  Houses, 
and  amidst  unmistakable  expressions  of  public 
approval.  From  that  time  forth  a  veto  of  the 
President  was  little  more  than  an  idle  formality, 
to  be  promptly  brushed  aside  by  the  great  Re 
publican  vote  of  the  two  Houses,  and  the  will  of 
Congress  became  absolute. 

On  April  30,  1866,  Stevens  reported  to  the 
House  the  important  fourteenth  amendment  for 
submission  to  the  States,  and  with  a  few  changes 
in  form  it  ultimately  became  a  part  of  the  na 
tional  Constitution.  The  amendment  broadly 
declared  that  "  all  persons  born  or  naturalized 
in  the  United  States  and  subject  to  the  juris 
diction  thereof  are  citizens  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside,"  and  pro 
hibited  any  State  from  abridging  the  privileges 
of  citizens  or  denying  to  any  person  "  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws."  Representatives  were 
apportioned  according  to  population ;  but  if  in 


272  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

any  State  the  right  to  vote  were  denied  to  any 
male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age,  except  for 
crime,  the  representation  should  be  proportion 
ately  reduced.  It  imposed  a  disability,  which, 
however,  might  be  removed  by  a  two-thirds  vote 
of  Congress,  upon  those  who,  having  before  the 
war  held  office  and  taken  an  official  oath  to  sup 
port  the  Constitution,  had  afterwards  taken  part 
in  the  rebellion.  The  validity  of  the  national 
debt  was  established,  and  the  payment  of  claims 
for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  and  of  all  debts 
incurred  in  the  prosecution  of  the  rebellion  was 
prohibited. 

A  bill  was  reported  by  Stevens,  at  the  same 
time,  declaring  that  when  the  fourteenth  amend 
ment  should  have  become  a  part  of  the  Consti 
tution,  and  "any  State  lately  in  insurrection 
should  have  ratified  it "  and  adopted  a  constitu 
tion  and  laws  in  conformity  with  its  terms,  such 
State  should  be  admitted  to  representation  in 
Congress.  The  measure  was  not  acted  upon 
and  went  over  to  the  next  session.  It  was  then 
abandoned  for  more  stringent  measures,  chiefly 
because  the  provisional  governments  of  the  South 
ern  States  contemptuously  refused  to  accept  the 
fourteenth  amendment,  which  of  course  put  an 
end  to  the  comparatively  mild  condition  set 
forth  in  the  plan  to  base  reconstruction  upon 
the  acceptance  of  that  amendment.  They  them- 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    273 

selves  were  far  from  being  free  from  responsi 
bility  for  the  harsher  system  that  was  finally 
imposed. 

The  Committee  on  Keconstruction  dealt  with 
the  situation  in  an  extended  report,  which  was 
presented  to  the  Senate  by  Fessenden  and  to 
the  House  by  Stevens,  and  in  almost  every  line 
of  which  the  influence  of  the  ideas  of  the  latter 
can  be  traced.  The  report  declared  that  the 
action  of  the  insurrectionary  States  had  de 
stroyed  their  constitutions  "  in  respect  to  the 
vital  principle  which  connected  their  respective 
States  with  the  Union  and  secured  their  federal 
relations."  It  conceded  that  the  President  in 
his  military  capacity  might  "  permit  the  people 
to  form  local  governments,"  but  declared  that 
Congress  alone  possessed  the  power  to  establish 
the  conditions  under  which  the  States  might 
receive  again  their  rights  as  States.  Their  peo 
ple  had  fought  until  they  were  "  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  enemies  conquered  in  war,  entitled 
only  by  public  law  to  such  rights,  privileges, 
and  conditions  as  might  be  vouchsafed  by  the 
conqueror."  Under  these  circumstances  they 
could  not  "  complain  of  temporary  exclusion  from 
Congress."  The  argument  in  favor  of  the  "  con 
quered  province  "  theory  was  then  stated  with 
extraordinary  force. 

"  It  is  moreover  contended,  and  with  apparent 


274  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

gravity,  that,  from  the  peculiar  nature  and  char 
acter  of  our  government,  no  such  right  on  the 
part  of  the  conqueror  can  exist ;  that  from  the 
moment  when  rebellion  lays  down  its  arms  and 
actual  hostilities  cease,  all  political  rights  of 
rebellious  communities  are  at  once  restored ; 
that,  because  the  people  of  a  State  of  the  Union 
were  once  an  organized  community  within  the 
Union,  they  necessarily  so  remain,  and  their 
right  to  be  represented  in  Congress  at  any  and 
all  times,  and  to  participate  in  the  government 
of  the  country  under  all  circumstances,  admits 
of  neither  question  nor  dispute.  If  this  is  in 
deed  true,  then  is  the  government  of  the  United 
States  powerless  for  its  own  protection,  and 
flagrant  rebellion,  carried  to  the  extreme  of 
civil  war,  is  a  pastime  which  any  State  may 
play  at,  not  only  certain  that  it  can  lose  nothing 
in  any  event,  but  may  even  be  the  gainer  by 
defeat.  If  rebellion  succeeds,  it  accomplishes 
its  purpose  and  destroys  the  government.  If 
it  fails,  the  war  has  been  barren  of  results,  and 
the  battle  may  be  still  fought  out  in  the  legisla 
tive  halls  of  the  country.  Treason,  defeated  in 
the  field,  has  only  to  take  possession  of  Congress 
and  the  cabinet.  .  .  .  The  question  before  Con 
gress  is,  then,  whether  conquered  enemies  have 
the  right,  and  shall  be  permitted,  at  their  own 
pleasure  and  on  their  own  terms,  to  participate 


THE  EUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    275 

in  making  laws  for  their  conquerors ;  whether 
conquered  rebels  may  change  their  theatre  of 
operations  from  the  battlefield,  where  they  were 
defeated  and  overthrown,  to  the  halls  of  Con 
gress,  and,  through  their  representatives,  seize 
upon  the  government  which  they  fought  to  de 
stroy  ;  whether  the  national  treasury,  the  army 
of  the  nation,  its  navy,  its  forts  and  arsenals, 
its  whole  civil  administration,  its  credit,  its 
pensioners,  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those 
who  perished  in  the  war,  the  public  honor,  peace 
and  safety,  shall  all  be  turned  over  to  the  keep 
ing  of  its  recent  enemies  without  delay,  and 
without  imposing  such  conditions  as,  in  the 
opinion  of  Congress,  the  security  of  the  country 
and  its  institutions  may  demand." 

The  report  insisted  upon  the  imposition  of  the 
conditions  prescribed  in  the  bill,  to  which  I  have 
just  referred,  the  passage  of  which  the  commit 
tee  recommended.  The  bill,  however,  did  not  go 
so  far  as  Stevens  desired.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
session  he  offered  amendments  to  it,  giving  the 
blacks  an  equal  right  of  suffrage  with  the  white 
race,  and  supported  these  amendments  in  a  speech 
of  great  seriousness.  He  was  at  the  time  worn 
out  with  the  work  of  the  session,  his  health  was 
slender,  he  bore  the  burden  of  more  than  the 
allotted  number  of  years,  and  very  probably  the 

1  Report  of  June  18,  1866. 


276  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

fear  that  he  might  not  be  permitted  to  return 
to  his  seat  in  the  House  imparted  an  unusual 
solemnity  to  his  manner  a-nd  inspired  him  "  to 
make  one  more  —  perhaps  an  expiring  —  effort 
to  do  something  which  shall  be  useful  to  my 
fellow  men ;  something  to  elevate  and  enlighten 
the  poor,  the  oppressed,  and  the  ignorant  in  this 
great  crisis  of/numan  affairs."  The  black  man, 
he  declared,  must  have  the  ballot  or  he  would 
continue  to  be  a  slave.  There  was  some  allevi 
ation  to  the  lot  of  a  bondman,  but  "  a  freeman 
deprived  of  every  human  right  is  the  most  de 
graded  of  human  beings."  Without  the  protec 
tion  of  the  ballot-box  the  f reedmen  were  "  the 
mere  serfs,"  and  would  become  "  the  victims,  of 
their  former  masters."  He  declared  that  what 
he  had  done  he  had  done  for  humanity.  "  I 
know  it  is  easy,"  he  said,  "  to  protect  the  inter 
ests  of  the  rich  and  powerful ;  but  it  is  a  great 
labor  to  guard  the  rights  of  the  poor  and  down 
trodden,  —  it  is  the  eternal  labor  of  Sisyphus 
forever  to  be  renewed.  ...  In  this,  perhaps  my 
final  action  on  this  great  question,  I  can  see 
nothing  in  my  political  course,  especially  in  re 
gard  to  human  freedom,  which  I  could  wish  to 
have  expunged  or  changed.  I  believe  that  we 
must  all  account  hereafter  for  deeds  done  in 
the  body,  and  that  political  deeds  will  be  among 
those  accounts.  I  desire  to  take  to  the  bar  of 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    277 

that  final  settlement  the  record  which  I  shall 
this  day  make  on  the  great  question  of  human 
rights.  While  I  am  sure  it  will  not  make  atone 
ment  for  half  my  errors,  I  hope  it  will  be  some 
palliation.  Are  there  any  who  will  venture  to 
take  the  list  with  their  negative  seal  upon  it, 
and  will  dare  to  unroll  it  before  that  stern 
Judge  who  is  the  Father  of  the  immortal  beings 
whom  they  have  been  trampling  under  foot,  and 
whose  souls  they  have  been  crushing  out?  " 

His  speech  made  a  profound  impression.  It 
had  the  tone  of  a  farewell  message ;  but  his  time 
was  not  yet  to  come  until  he  should  see  his  own 
sympathy  and  his  inextinguishable  love  of  lib 
erty  engraven  still  more  deeply  upon  the  statute 
books  of  his  country. 

The  session  ended  before  the  Congressional 
plan  of  reconstruction  had  been  fully  developed, 
but  its  general  lines  were  clearly  indicated  and 
the  difference  with  Johnson  had  passed  beyond 
the  point  of  compromise.  The  hostility  of  the 
President  to  the  fourteenth  amendment  produced 
a  cabinet  crisis,  and  three  members  resigned ; 
but  Mr.  Stanton,  still  to  all  appearances  loyal, 
retained  his  position,  wherein  he  was  soon  to 
become  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  President  and 
ultimately  the  occasion  of  his  impeachment. 

The  issue  between  the  President  and  Congress 
was  clearly  defined,  and  was  ripe  for  presenta- 


278  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

tion  to  the  people  in  the  Congressional  elections 
which  followed  the  adjournment  of  the  first  ses 
sion  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress.  A  cam 
paign  of  great  excitement  followed.  The  course 
was  taken,  somewhat  unusual  in  elections  when 
the  presidency  is  not  at  stake,  of  holding  na 
tional  conventions. 

Ill  luck  attended  the  Johnson  demonstrations. 
The  elements  which  supported  him  were  so  an 
tagonistic  that  they  either  neutralized  each  other 
and  produced  a  result  which  was  a  nullity,  or 
afforded  ready  material  for  effective  popular 
ridicule.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Republican 
conventions  were  imposing  affairs.  Mr.  Speed, 
who  had  retired  from  the  office  of  attorney- 
general  because  of  his  disagreement  with  the 
President,  presided  over  one  of  them  with  dra 
matic  effect.  But  the  great  meeting  of  citizen 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  came  together  to  de 
nounce  the  President's  policy,  composed  as  it 
was  of  the  most  conspicuous  volunteers  in  the 
war  for  the  Union,  set  the  popular  current  irre 
sistibly  in  favor  of  the  radical  policy  of  Con 
gress. 

As  the  campaign  progressed  the  agitation  in 
favor  of  granting  suffrage  to  the  negro  as  a 
necessary  muniment  of  Jtas  freedom  became 
more  marked.  The  boM  and  extreme  ideas, 
which  Stevens  had  advocated,  were  far  more 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    279 

likely  to  prevail  in  times  of  popular  passion  and 
when  the  patriotism  of  the  people  was  stirred  to 
the  depths,  than  was  any  policy  which  bore  upon 
itself  the  appearance  of  a  surrender.  The  peo 
ple  had  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  laws  for  any 
condition,  and  it  was  not  enough  that  the  em 
bers  of  rebellion  should  be  permitted  slowly  to 
die  and  a  new  system  gradually  take  shape  and 
grow  out  of  the  chaos  which  covered  the  South ; 
rather  some  great  enactment  was  demanded 
which  should  be  in  keeping  with  the  greatness  of 
the  war.  It  was  a  ripe  time  for  decorating  the 
Constitution  with  magnificent  reforms.  That 
they  would  prove  effective  was  taken  for  granted 
from  the  fact  that  they  were  to  have  a  place 
in  so  imposing  an  instrument.  That  they  could 
even  prove  injurious,  if  they  were  in  advance  of 
the  times  or  in  any  respect  at  variance  with  the 
laws  of  nature,  was  not  thought  of.  The  edict 
of  so  mighty  a  people  could,  in  the  popular 
mind,  accomplish  anything;  could  even  at  one 
fiat  raise  up  four  millions  of  the  African  race 
from  the  depths  of  slavery  to  the  dignity  of 
equal  membership  in  a  self-governing  and  highly 
civilized  nation. 

There  appeared  to  be  no  middle  course  which 
was  practically  attainable.  Lincoln  was  not 
living,  to  urge  his  conservative  plan  of  gradual 
enfranchisement,  beginning  with  those  who  were 


280  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

most  intelligent  or  had  served  in  the  Union 
armies,  and  cautiously  extending  the  right  to 
all  who  were,  or  should  become,  fitted  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  citizenship.  Moreover,  the 
President's  plan  had  worked  abominably  with 
the  hostile  negro  laws  which  were  so  promptly 
enacted  under  it  and  the  bloody  riots  in  which 
many  freedmen  were  killed. 

Stevens,  more  than  any  other  man,  supplied 
his  party  with  an  issue,  but  his  personal  part 
in  the  conduct  of  the  campaign  was  small.  His 
health  at  the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  July 
was  very  slender,  and  his  physician  had  enjoined 
upon  him  an  abstinence  from  work.  He  was 
certain  of  reelection,  and  he  employed  himself 
in  recuperating  from  the  exhausting  labors  of 
the  previous  session  and  preparing  himself  to 
endure  the  heavy  burdens  that  he  was  still  to 
carry.  But  the  grotesque  performances  of  the 
President  in  his  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of 
Douglas,  which  he  converted  into  the  most  vul 
gar  sort  of  a  campaign  tour,  tempted  Stevens 
to  depart  from  the  strict  rule  which  he  had 
prescribed  for  himself.  This  expedition  of 
Johnson's,  which  suggested  the  name  that  is 
likely  always  to  adhere  to  it,  —  "  swinging  round 
the  circle,"  —  remains  and  is  probably  destined 
to  remain  without  a  parallel  in  our  history.  He 
ha.d  with  him  a  distinguished  retinue  including 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    281 

Mr.  Seward  and  other  members  of  the  cabinet, 
General  Grant,  and  Admiral  Farragut.  The 
presence  of  these  distinguished  men  would  ordi 
narily  have  secured  him  large  audiences  and 
a  respectful  hearing.  But  he  was  not  long  in 
dispensing  with  this  advantage  together  with  the 
dignity  of  his  office. 

He  violently  attacked  Congress,  and  chose  to 
assume  that  the  only  obstacles  which  stood  be 
tween  himself  and  a  dictatorship  lay  in  his  own 
self-control  and  his  attachment  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  There  was  no  necessity  for  his  declaring, 
as  he  did  in  his  speech  at  Cleveland,  "  I  care  not 
for  dignity";  for  in  the  same  speech  he  said 
that,  "  though  the  powers  of  hell  and  Thad  Ste 
vens  and  his  gang  were  by,  they  could  not  turn 
me  from  my  purpose."  In  the  same  speech 
also  he  asked  :  "  Why  not  hang  Thad  Stevens  ! 
and  Wendell  Phillips  ?  I  tell  you,  my  country 
men,  I  have  been  fighting  the  South,  and  they 
have  been  whipped  and  crushed,  and  they  ac 
knowledge  their  defeat,  and  accept  the  terms  of 
the  Constitution  ;  and  now,  as  I  go  around  this 
circle,  having  fought  traitors  at  the  South,  I  am 
prepared  to  fight  traitors  at  the  North."1  The 
inquiry  why  Stevens  should  not  hang  was  evi 
dently  a  favorite  one  with  the  President,  and  he 
again  propounded  it  at  St.  Louis. 

1  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  p.  137. 


282  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Stevens  apparently  did  not  permit  his  seren 
ity  to  be  disturbed,  and  did  not  stand  in  great 
fear  of  being  executed,  if  one  may  judge  from 
a  little  off-hand  speech  which  he  made  to  his 
constituents  a  short  time  before  the  election. 
"  I  come  not  to  make  a  speech,"  he  said,  "  but 
for  the  want  of  one.  When  I  left  Washington 
I  was  somewhat  worn  by  labors  and  disease,  and 
I  was  directed  by  my  physician  neither  to  think, 
to  speak,  nor  to  read  until  the  next  session  of 
Congress,  or  I  should  not  regain  my  strength. 
I  have  followed  the  first  injunction  most  re 
ligiously,  for  I  believe  I  have  not  let  an  idea 
pass  through  my  mind  to  trouble  me  since  Con 
gress  adjourned.  The  second  one  —  not  to  speak 
—  I  was  seduced  from  keeping ;  and  I  made  a 
speech  at  Bedford,  —  the  only  one  I  have  made. 
The  one  —  not  to  read  —  I  have  followed  al 
most  literally.  It  is  true,  I  have  amused  myself 
with  a  little .  light,  frivolous  reading.  For  in 
stance,  there  was  a  serial  account  from  day  to 
day  of  a  very  remarkable  circus  that  traveled 
through  the  country,  from  Washington  to  Chi 
cago  and  St.  Louis,  and  from  Louisville  back 
to  Washington.  I  read  that  with  some  interest, 
expecting  to  see  in  so  celebrated  an  establish 
ment,  —  one  which  from  its  heralding  was  to 
beat  Dan  Rice  and  all  the  old  circuses  that  ever 
went  forth,  —  I  expected  great  wit  from  the 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT    283 

celebrated  character  of  its  clowns.  [Laughter.] 
They  were  well  provided  with  clowns  ;  instead 
of  one,  there  were  two.  One  of  these  clowns 
was  high  in  office  and  somewhat  advanced  in 

C5 

years  ;  the  other  was  a  little  less  advanced  in 
office,  but  older  in  years.  They  started  out  with 
a  very  respectable  stock  company.  In  order  to 
attract  attention  they  took  with  them,  for  in 
stance,  a  celebrated  general ;  they  took  with  them 
an  eminent  naval  officer,  and  they  chained  him 
to  the  rigging  so  that  he  could  not  get  away, 
though  he  tried  to  do  so  once  or  twice.  But 
the  circus  went  on  all  the  time,  —  sometimes  one 
clown  performing  and  sometimes  the  other.  For 
instance,  the  younger  clown  told  them,  in  the 
language  of  the  ancient  heroes,  who  trod  the 
stage,  that  he  had  it  in  his  power,  if  '  he  chose, 
to  be  a  dictator.'  The  elder  clown  pointed  to 
the  other  one,  and  said  to  the  people,  '  Will 
you  take  him  for  President  or  will  you  take  him 
for  King  ?  '  [Laughter.]  He  left  you  but  one 
alternative.  You  are  obliged  to  take  him  for 
one  or  the  other,  either  for  President  or  King, 
if  4  My  policy '  prevails. 

"  I  am  not  following  them  all  round.  I  shall 
not  describe  to  you  how  sometimes  they  cut  out 
side  the  circle,  and  entered  into  street  broils 
with  common  blackguards  ;  how  they  fought  at 
Cleveland  and  Indianapolis.  But,  coming  round, 


284  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

they  told  you,  or  one  of  them  did,  that  he  had 
been  everything  but  one.  He  had  been  a  tailor, 
—  I  think  he  did  not  say  drunken  tailor,  —  no, 
he  had  been  a  tailor.  [Laughter.]  He  had  been 
JU  a  constable.  [Laughter.]  He  had  been  city 
alderman.  [Laughter.]  He  had  been  in  the 
legislature.  God  help  that  legislature  !  [Great 
merriment.]  He  had  been  in  Congress  ;  and 
now  he  was  President.  He  had  been  every 
thing  but  one,  —  he  had  never  been  a  hangman, 
and  he  asked  leave  to  hang  Thad  Stevens. 
[Laughter.]  "  * 

The  elections  had  not  proceeded  far  before  it 
became  evident  that  the  cause  of  the  President 
was  lost.  The  Republican  majority  in  some  of 
the  States  was  unprecedented,  and  the  result 
was  a  sweeping  victory,  the  Republicans  electing 
143  members  against  49  Democrats.  With  more 
than  two  thirds  of  the  membership  of  both 
Houses,  the  congressional  leaders  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  presidential  veto,  which  they 
could  override  at  pleasure.  What  the  President 
had  been  from  the  beginning  of  his  term  he  was 
destined  to  continue  until  its  close,  —  a  mere  nul 
lity  as  a  factor  in  partisan  legislation.  Recon 
struction  was  now  sure  to  come,  and  upon  more 
radical  lines  than  had  ever  been  proposed.  The 
triumph  of  the  theory  of  Stevens  was  complete. 

1  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Commoner,  by  E.  B.  Callender,  pp.  158- 
161. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

RECONSTRUCTION   LEGISLATION  AND    ITS 
RESULTS 

THE  message  which  the  President  sent  to 
Congress  at  the  December  session  of  1866  was  a 
strong  and  dignified  paper,  but  it  afforded  no 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  that  statement  which  he 
had  so  often  made  about  himself,  that  he  bowed 
to  the  will  of  the  people.  It  contained  a  power 
ful  vindication  of  his  own  course,  and  urged  upon 
Congress  the  wisdom  of  admitting  the  senators 
and  representatives  from  the  rebellious  States. 
The  two  Houses  at  once  proceeded  to  exhibit 
equal  devotion  to  their  own  policy.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  session  Stevens  offered  a  reso 
lution  for  the  establishment  of  the  Committee  on 
Reconstruction,  which,  being  a  joint  committee, 
had  expired  with  the  previous  session.  Both  bod 
ies  concurred  in  the  resolution,  and  the  committee 
set  itself  to  work  to  develop  a  bill  which  Ste 
vens  finally  reported  to  the  House,  February  6, 
1867.  At  that  time  every  one  of  the  legislatures 
of  the  insurrectionary  States  had  voted  upon 


286  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

the  fourteenth  amendment ;  and  with  the  excep 
tion  of  Tennessee,  which  had  promptly  accepted 
it  and  been  admitted  to  representation  in  Con 
gress,  they  all  had  rejected  the  amendment, 
and,  in  some  instances,  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
It  was  useless,  therefore,  to  entertain  the  plan 
proposed  by  the  committee  during  the  preceding 
session,  and  events  irresistibly  pressed  Congress 
more  closely  to  the  radicalism  of  Stevens.  He 
was  so  constituted  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  change  his  opinions  upon  the  question. 
They  were  firmly  imbedded  in  his  sense  of  jus 
tice,  and,  what  had  scarcely  less  force  with  a 
great  lawyer,  he  believed  them  firmly  imbedded 
in  the  law.  He  adhered  to  his  position  upon 
reconstruction  as  persistently  as  Johnson  ad 
hered  to  his.  He  would  not  have  yielded  had 
he  been  in  a  minority ;  he  certainly  could  not 
be  expected  to  yield  after  the  emphatic  expres 
sion  of  the  people  of  the  loyal  States  at  the 
November  election. 

He  pressed  on  the  work  in  his  committee, 
where  he  was  providing  for  provisional  military 
governments  for  the  South ;  and  he  also  seized 
every  opportunity  to  impress  upon  the  House 
the  wisdom  of  requiring  that  the  constitution  of 
the  Southern  States  should  establish  negro  suf 
frage  as  a  condition  of  readmission.  He  pre 
sented  again,  in  a  new  form,  the  arguments 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION       287 

which  he  had  so  frequently  employed,  and  he 
called  upon  Congress  to  show  at  last  that  it  had 
the  boldness  to  act.  "  In  the  acquisition  of  true 
fame,"  he  said,  "  courage  is  just  as  necessary  in 
the  civilian  as  in  the  military  hero.  We  may 
not  aspire  to  fame,  but  great  results  fix  the  eye 
of  history  on  small  objects  and  magnify  their 
meanness.  Let  us  at  least  escape  that  condi 
tion." 

That  he  would  not  deviate  from  what  he  be 
lieved  to  be  sound  legal  principles  even  in  the 
hour  of  victory  was  shown  by  his  opposition,  at 
the  opening  of  the  December  session,  to  a  bill, 
reported  by  the  law  committee  of  the  House, 
repealing  an  ancient  statute  of  limitations,  and 
providing  that  all  persons  guilty  of  treason 
might  be  tried  at  any  time  for  the  crime.  He 
declared  that  the  bill  appeared  like  an  attempt 
to  permit  judicial  murder ;  and  while  he  was 
convinced  that  "  none  of  these  traitors  "  could 
ever  be  convicted  of  treason  under  the  laws 
then  existing,  he  "  would  rather  let  every  man 
of  them  run  unpunished  forever  than  to  make 
a  law  now  by  which  they  could  be  punished." 
He  was  willing  enough  to  punish  traitors,  but 
he  thought  that  by  the  proposed  measure  "  our 
government  would  be  endangered  in  its  future 
existence,  in  its  sense  of  justice,  in  its  character 
before  the  world."  He  believed,  too,  in  a  statute 


288  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

of  limitations  for  treason,  for,  although  it  was  a 
high  crime,  there  were  "  generally  so  many  en 
gaged  in  the  crime  of  treason  and  rebellion  that 
there  must  be  some  quieting  law."  He  desired 
that  bloodshed  should  cease  with  the  war,  but 
he  was  strenuous  in  urging  the  confiscation  of 
property  as  a  punishment  for  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion. 

The  reconstruction  bill,  which  his  committee 
finally  brought  into  the  House,  recited  that 
"  the  pretended  state  governments  of  the  late 
so-called  Confederate  States  afford  no  adequate 
protection  for  life  or  property,  but  countenance 
and  encourage  lawlessness  and  crime ;  "  and 
that  it  was  necessary  to  enforce  order  until  loyal 
state  governments  could  be  established.  To 
that  end  it  provided  that  the  "  so-called  States" 
should  be  divided  into  five  military  districts. 
The  President  was  ignored,  but  the  general  of 
the  army  was  to  assign  to  the  command  of  each 
district  an  officer  of  the  regular  army  not  below 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  who  was  armed 
with  full  authority  to  protect  life  and  property, 
suppress  insurrection  and  preserve  order,  and 
might  permit  the  civil  tribunals  to  try  offenders  ; 
or  he  could  in  his  discretion  employ  military 
commissioners  ;  but  the  sentence  of  a  military 
tribunal  affecting  life  or  liberty  should  not  be 
executed  until  approved  by  the  officer  in  com- 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        289 

mand  of  the  district.  The  bill  was  a  brief  and 
drastic  measure  of  military  government.  As 
Garfield  aptly  said,  in  a  speech  in  support  of 
the  measure,  "  it  was  written  with  a  steel  pen 
made  out  of  a  bayonet." 

There  was,  undoubtedly,  at  the  time  almost 
a  paralysis  of  civil  government  at  the  South. 
The  organizations  established  under  the  Presi 
dent's  plan  were  denied  recognition  by  Congress, 
had  been  discredited  by  the  elections,  and  had 
no  practical  efficiency  as  governments.  Some 
vigorous  sort  of  authority  was  demanded  to 
secure  the  ends  of  government  over  that  area 
which  had  been  the  seat  of  war,  and  was  then 
the  theatre  of  a  social  revolution  so  profound 
as  that  involved  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves. 
Political  assassinations  were  not  infrequent ;  and 
riots  and  insurrections  made  the  reign  of  disor 
der  in  some  sections  almost  supreme. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  bill,  reported 
at  the  preceding  session  by  Stevens,  for  the  per 
manent  reorganization  of  the  state  governments, 
which  had  not  been  finally  acted  upon  by  the 
House,  although  he  had  urged  action.  As  the 
thirty-ninth  Congress  was  about  to  come  to  an 
end  he  desired  that  the  bill  establishing  military 
governments  should  become  a  law  on  account  of 
temporary  necessity.  Something,  he  thought, 
should  be  done  to  preserve  order  while  Con- 


290  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

gress  was  settling  upon  a  scheme  of  final  resto 
ration.  The  measure  gave  rise  to  a  long  and 
exciting  debate.  Some  of  the  Republicans, 
prominent  among  whom  were  Mr.  Bingham  and 
Mr.  Blaine,  insisted  that  the  two  measures 
should  go  hand  in  hand,  and  that  Congress 
should  not  set  up  military  governments  in  the 
Southern  States,  without  at  the  same  time  pre 
scribing  the  terms  by  which  these  States  could 
be  freed  from  them,  and  to  which  their  perma 
nent  civil  governments  should  conform.  Mr. 
Blaine  offered  an  amendment  substantially  pre 
scribing  the  most  important  conditions  for  read- 
inission,  which  had  been  already  set  forth  in  the 
bill  reported  by  Stevens  at  the  preceding  ses 
sion  and  in  certain  extreme  amendments  which 
he  had  proposed.  But  Stevens  for  some  reason 
did  not  wish  to  see  the  two  measures  combined, 
although  they  were  both  substantially  his  own. 
He  strenuously  resisted  the  adoption  of  Mr. 
Blaine's  amendment,  which  he  stigmatized  as  a 
"  step  towards  universal  amnesty  and  universal 
Andy-Johnsonism."  He  asked  the  House  to 
adopt  the  military  government  bill  in  the  form 
in  which  he  had  presented  it.  He  declared  that 
it  was  not  intended  as  a  reconstruction  measure, 
but  "  simply  as  a  police  bill  to  protect  the  loyal 
men  from  anarchy  and  murder,  until  this  Con 
gress,  taking  a  little  more  time,  can  suit  gentle- 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        291 

men  in  a  bill  for  the  admission  of  all  those  rebel 
States  upon  the  basis  of  civil  government." 
Curiously  enough  his  resistance  was  made  effec 
tive  only  by  the  aid  of  Democratic  votes,  and 
after  an  acrimonious  discussion,  to  which  he 
contributed  some  characteristic  ridicule,  he  se 
cured  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  precise  form 
in  which  he  desired  it  to  pass. 

The  contest  was  renewed  in  the  Senate  by  the 
advocates  of  the  Elaine  amendment,  and  that 
body  incorporated  its  essential  features  in  the 
measure.  The  House,  however,  refused  to  yield 
except  upon  the  insertion  of  conditions  which, 
after  a  conference,  the  Senate  agreed  to  accept ; 
and  the  bill  then  went  to  the  President.  It  was 
now  the  20th  of  February,  1867.  As  the  Con 
gress  expired  on  the  4th  of  March,  and  the 
President  was  given  ten  days  in  which  to  con 
sider  the  bill,  its  fate  was  even  yet  in  doubt.  If 
he  should  take  the  full  time  allotted  him  by  the 
Constitution  before  sending  in  his  inevitable 
veto,  only  two  days  would  remain  in  which  to 
pass  it  again  through  both  Houses ;  and  this 
time  might  be  consumed  by  dilatory  tactics,  and 
thus  the  bill  might  fail  through  lack  of  final 
action  before  the  termination  of  Congress. 

Johnson  comprehended  the  situation,  and 
held  back  his  veto  until  the  last  moment,  trans 
mitting  it  to  the  House  on  the  afternoon  of 


292  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

March  2,  which  was  Saturday.  The  Congress 
expired  on  the  following  Monday  at  noon.  Ste 
vens  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  and  at 
once  demanded  consideration,  but  yielded  for 
brief  statements  from  Democratic  members,  who 
protested  that  the  bill  meant  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union  and  "  the  death  knell  of  republican 
liberty."  One  of  them  declared  that  the  bill 
should  not  pass  unless  he  was  "  overpowered 
from  physical  exhaustion,  or  restrained  by  the 
rules  of  the  House."  Stevens,  in  closing  the  de 
bate,  said  that  he  had  listened  to  the  gentlemen, 
because  he  appreciated  "  the  melancholy  feelings 
with  which  they  are  approaching  this  funeral  of 
the  nation,"  but  as  he  desired  the  passage  of  the 
bill  he  asked  Mr.  Elaine  to  move  a  suspension 
of  the  rules.  Mr.  Elaine  accordingly  made  the 
motion,  and  after  an  ineffectual  attempt  at  fili 
bustering,  the  bill  was  at  once  passed  by  a  vote 
of  135  yeas  to  48  nays.  The  Senate  speedily 
took  similar  action,  and  thus  the  reconstruction 
bill  became  a  law. 

The  measure  was  shortly  after  amended  in 
technical  details.  It  was  also  changed  from 
time  to  time  to  meet  the  difficulties  growing  out 
of  the  unfriendly  attitude  of  the  President,  who 
had  charge  of  its  execution ;  but  it  embodied 
the  essential  principles  upon  which  civil  govern 
ment  at  the  South  was  reestablished,  and  the 


KECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        293 

rebellious  States  restored  to  the  Union.  As  it 
finally  passed  it  contained  the  provisions  of  the 
original  bill  for  the  military  governments,  ex 
cept  that  the  commanders  of  the  different  de 
partments  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  President 
instead  of  by  the  general  of  the  army,  and  that 
no  sentence  of  death  should  be  executed  without 
the  approval  of  the  President.  It  also  enacted 
that  when  the  people  of  any  of  the  insurrection 
ary  States  should  have  adopted  a  constitution 
conforming  in  every  respect  with  the  national 
Constitution ;  and  passed  by  a  convention  of  dele 
gates  chosen  by  male  citizens,  not  disqualified 
by  crime,  twenty-one  years  old  and  upwards,  "  of 
whatever  race,  color,  or  previous  condition,"  who 
had  been  residents  of  the  State  one  year ;  "  and 
when  such  constitution  shall  provide  that  the 
elective  franchise  shall  be  enjoyed  by  all  such 
persons  as  have  the  qualifications  herein  stated 
for  electors  of  delegates  ;  and  when  such  consti 
tution  shall  be  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  per 
sons  voting  on  the  question  of  ratification  who 
are  qualified  as  electors  for  delegates  ; "  and  when 
the  constitution  should  have  been  approved  by 
Congress ;  and  the  fourteenth  amendment  adopted 
by  the  State,  and  have  become  a  part  of  the 
national  Constitution,  "said  State  shall  be  de 
clared  entitled  to  representation  in  Congress." 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  plan  of  recon- 


294  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

struction  which  was  finally  put  in  operation 
conformed  in  a  singular  manner,  in  its  essential 
principles,  with  the  ideas  that  Stevens  had  long 
advocated.  It  was  promulgated  by  Congress, 
and  not  by  the  Executive,  as  he  had  never 
ceased  to  contend  should  be  the  case  since  Lin 
coln  had  put  forth  his  "  Louisiana  plan."  It 
applied  a  radical  dogma,  which  he  had  long  pro 
claimed  with  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wil 
derness,  and  practically  treated  the  Southern 
States  as  conquered  provinces  and  as  entitled  to 
no  rights  under  the  Constitution.  It  prescribed 
universal  suffrage  for  the  black  as  well  as  for 
the  white  man,  not  merely  in  the  formation  of 
the  new  state  constitutions  but  as  an  enduring 
part  of  those  instruments. 

The  permanent  efficiency  of  Stevens's  plan  was 
much  impaired  by  a  departure  from  the  form 
which  he  advocated  in  that  clause  of  the  four 
teenth  amendment  fixing  the  basis  of  represen 
tation  in  Congress.  By  one  of  the  so-called 
compromises  in  the  Constitution,  one  kind  of 
property  was  exalted  above  all  other  kinds,  and 
representation  in  Congress  was  based  upon 
slaves  equal  to  three  fifths  of  their  number. 
Stevens  always  contended  that  this  was  wrong ; 
but  it  was  in  the  Constitution,  and  he  showed 
that  sort  of  willingness  to  abide  by  it  which 
springs  out  of  compulsion.  But  after  emanci- 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION       295 

pation  had  raised  the  negro  above  the  dignity 
of  property,  and  had  transformed  him  from  a 
chattel  into  a  man,  Stevens  very  justly  contended 
that  this  dumb  representation  should  end ;  and 
he  did  not  propose,  by  apportioning  representa 
tives  directly  according  to  population,  to  give  to 
the  war  the  effect  of  augmenting  the  political 
power  of  the  conquered,  as  would  be  the  case  if 
the  white  man  alone  were  to  exercise  the  suf 
frage,  and  all,  instead  of  three  fifths,  of  the 
negroes  were  to  be  counted  in  establishing  the 
basis  of  representation. 

He  therefore  proposed,  as  I  have  stated,  dur 
ing  the  early  period  of  the  controversy  with 
Johnson,  to  divide  the  representatives  among 
the  States  according  to  the  number  of  legal 
voters,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  national  census. 
Under  this  provision,  which  was  to  have  univer 
sal  application  throughout  the  Union,  any  State 
which  saw  fit  to  exclude  black  men  or  any  other 
men  from  the  suffrage  would  do  so  at  the  ex 
pense  of  its  representation  in  the  national 
House.  If  the  excluded  classes  could  not  have 
representatives  of  their  own  choosing,  they  were 
to  have  none  chosen  by  somebody  else.  His 
proposition,  in  the  form  in  which  he  made  it, 
was  not  adopted,  but  was  set  aside  in  order  to 
adopt  in  its  place  the  language  now  standing 
in  the  Constitution,  and  which,  while  it  was 


296  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

doubtless  intended  to  have  the  same  effect  so 
far  as  the  black  man  was  concerned,  still  awaits 
that  positive  legislative  action  necessary  to  give 
it  vitality. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  outline  the  prin 
cipal  steps  in  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  re 
construction,  avoiding,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
technical  history  of  various  propositions  and 
amendments,  of  slight  value  except  to  the  special 
student,  which  would  demand  a  long  narration 
and  be  of  no  corresponding  advantage  in  secur 
ing  a  general  understanding  of  the  final  result. 
The  legislation  itself  is  of  transcendent  impor 
tance  ;  and  it  constitutes  the  great  contribution 
which  Stevens  made  to  the  history  of  his  coun 
try,  although  for  some  of  the  details  he  is  not  to 
be  held  responsible. 

Whether  the  conditions  that  were  imposed 
upon  the  Southern  States  were  wisely  imposed 
or  not,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Stevens 
was  right  in  discarding  the  pedantic  and  techni 
cal  phases  of  the  question  and  treating  recon 
struction  as  a  practical  problem.  It  was  purely 
a  question  of  what  was  best  for  the  future,  and 
not  of  constitutional  rights  of  the  seceded  States. 
At  this  distance  of  time  it  seems  inconceivable 
that  men  should  have  seriously  advanced  the 
proposition,  as  a  basis  for  practical  action,  that 
the  States  were  never  out  of  the  Union,  and  that 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION       297 

when  peace  returned  they  were  of  right  entitled 
to  representation  in  Congress.  The  laws  had 
been  violently  set  aside,  and  the  sword  appealed 
to,  in  what  proved  to  be  the  greatest  civil  war 
in  all  history.  The  work  of  conquering  the 
people  of  the  rebellious  States,  defended  as  they 
were  by  climate,  by  vast  areas  of  territory,  and 
by  their  own  splendid  valor,  presented  to  the 
North  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  that  ever 
confronted  a  nation.  They  continued  to  strug 
gle  to  the  very  end,  and  only  laid  down  their 
arms  because  they  could  fight  no  longer.  After 
the  victory  had  been  won  through  the  destruc 
tion  of  seven  hundred  thousand  men  and  seven 
billions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property,  it  was  seri 
ously  proposed  that  no  safeguards  should  be 
exacted  for  the  future,  if  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  three-fourths  of  a  century  before 
had  not  provided  for  such  a  contingency. 

Stevens  clearly  saw  that  it  would  be  criminal 
folly  to  throw  away  any  advantage  of  so  costly 
a  war  in  order  to  preserve  a  constitutional  fic 
tion,  and  that  those  who  were  charged  with  the 
responsibilities  of  the  victory  would  be  false 
alike  to  the  victor  and  to  the  vanquished,  if,  on 
account  of  any  scruples  about  the  Constitution, 
they  should  neglect  a  single  precaution  against 
the  recurrence  of  strife,  or  should  fail  to  provide 
the  most  careful  safeguards  for  the  future  safety 


298  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

of  all.  Within  the  theatre  of  the  war  the  Con 
stitution  had  been  set  aside,  and  there  had  been 
a  cessation  of  all  the  processes  of  the  law.  Ste 
vens  believed  in  the  Constitution,  but  he  did 
not  believe  in  parchment  worship  or  that  the 
earth  should  be  held  in  bondage  to  a  dead  gen 
eration.  A  new  crisis  had  been  reached  in  our 
affairs,  and  the  supreme  considerations  in  deal 
ing  with  it  were  those  of  common  sense  and 
expediency. 

But  while  the  point  of  view  from  which  he 
regarded  the  problem  was  the  correct  one,  the 
question  of  the  wisdom  of  the  remedy  which 
was  prescribed  is  a  very  distinct  question.  That 
must  be  determined  to  some  extent,  at  least,  by 
its  actual  operation  and  effect.  In  the  course  of 
time,  necessary  state  governments  were  estab 
lished  upon  the  basis  of  the  congressional  act, 
the  substantial  conditions  governing  readmission 
were  complied  with,  and  the  senators  and 
representatives  of  the  Southern  States  were  ad 
mitted  to  both  Houses  of  Congress.  During  the 
formative  period  of  the  new  state  governments 
and  under  the  era  of  military  rule  a  fair  degree 
of  order  was  maintained.  That  kind  of  govern 
ment  was  obviously  not  destined  to  be  popular 
among  a  people  accustomed  to  free  institutions, 
but  it  was  probably  as  effective  and  as  little 
harsh  as  any  military  government  could  have 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        299 

been  in  the  face  of  the  difficulties  with  which 
it  contended,  and  it  was  better  than  anarchy. 

The  important  point  is  the  effect  of  the  negro 
suffrage  so  suddenly  and  so  universally  imposed. 
The  presence  of  federal  soldiers  was  favorable 
to  the  working  of  this  experiment,  since  they 
protected  the  black  man  and  made  his  right  to 
vote  a  practical  as  well  as  a  theoretical  right. 
What  happened  was  precisely  what  might  have 
been  expected  to  happen  when  the  roots  of  soci 
ety  were  upturned,  and  when  its  lowest  strata 
were  at  once  forcibly  imposed  upon  the  top. 
What  followed  lacked  even  the  one  element  of 
justice,  which  it  would  have  possessed  if  the 
poor  colored  man  had  shared  in  the  spoliation 
which  resulted,  and  had  gained  some  portion  of 
the  fruits  of  his  extorted  and  uncompensated 
labor.  But  instead  of  being  a  beneficiary  he 
was  made  the  innocent  instrument  of  plunder 
by  as  unprincipled  a  set  of  political  scoundrels 
and  public  robbers  as  ever  looted  a  defenseless 
treasury.  Undoubtedly  there  were  some  honest 
and  patriotic  men  who  removed  to  the  South 
immediately  after  the  war  and  participated  in 
politics,  but  they  were  in  a  minority,  unable 
materially  to  restrain  and  powerless  to  control. 

The  administration  of  most  of  the  Southern 
state  governments  had  long  been  characterized 
by  economy  and  frugality  even  in  the  time  of 


300  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

their  prosperity.  Public  officers  performed 
their  duties  for  small  salaries,  in  public  build 
ings  of  primitive  construction,  and  amid  sur 
roundings  where  any  elements  of  luxury  would 
be  sought  for  in  vain.  But  the  simplicity  and 
economy,  which  had  been  so  long  practiced  from 
inclination,  were  imperatively  demanded  in  the 
conditions  following  the  war,  when  poverty  was 
well-nigh  universal,  and  the  once  wealthy  pos 
sessor  of  hundreds  of  slaves  had  become  as  poor 
as  the  meanest  black  man  he  had  once  owned. 

The  barest  survey  of  the  facts  will  suffice  to 
show  the  first  effect  of  the  new  order.  In  the 
State  of  Florida  in  1860  the  combined  salaries 
of  the  principal  executive  officers  were  $26,200 
upon  a  taxable  valuation  amounting  to  about 
167,000,000.  In  1869  some  of  these  officers  had 
been  given  the  sounding  title  of  "  cabinet  offi 
cers,"  and  they  were  paid  in  a  way  to  maintain 
"  the  dignity  of  the  office."  The  tax  valuation 
of  the  State  had  decreased  more  than  one  half, 
but  the  salaries  were  nearly  trebled.  The  legis 
lative  expenses  in  1860  were  $17,592 ;  in  1869, 
$67,620.  The  total  annual  state  expenditures 
in  the  same  period  bounded  from  $118,000  to 
$375,000.  In  the  four  years  from  1868  to  1872 
the  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  State  increased 
enormously.1 

1  The  figures  relating  to  the  expenditures  and  debts  of  the 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION       301 

In  Georgia  the  appropriations  for  the  pay 
and  mileage  of  members  and  officers  of  one  of 
the  earliest  legislatures  of  the  reconstructed  gov 
ernment  amounted  to  1979,000,  or  more  than 
four  times  as  much  as  it  had  been  the  rule  to 
appropriate  for  the  same  purpose  by  former  leg 
islatures.  The  State  owned  a  railroad  from 
which  it  received  a  net  revenue  in  1867  of 
8300,000.  In  1870  all  the  gross  receipts  were 
consumed  in  the  "  operation  "  of  the  road,  and 
a  deficit  still  remained  of  more  than  $500,000, 
which  had  to  be  met  out  of  the  treasury.1  From 
1868  to  1874  the  indebtedness  of  the  State  in 
creased  more  than  $6,000,000. 

The  chief  result  of  the  work  of  the  first  legis 
lature  of  North  Carolina  under  reconstruction 
was  the  issue  of  $14,000,000  of  the  bonds  of  the 
State  in  aid  of  railroads,  none  of  which  was 
ever  constructed,  and  $11,000,000  more  were 
authorized,  but  were  not  issued  because  the  re 
gime  was  set  aside. 

The  debt  of  Alabama,  including  bonds  which 
were  issued  or  indorsed  on  account  of  rail 
roads,  was  increased  from  $8,356,000  in  1868  to 
$25,503,000  in  1874. 

Southern  States,  I  have  taken  mainly  from  The  Last  Quarter 
Century  in  the  United  States,  by  E.  Benjamin  Andrews,  and 
Why  the  Solid  South,  by  Hilary  A.  Herbert. 

1  Reconstruction  in  Georgia,  by  Hon.  H.  G.  Turner;  Why 
fa  Solid  South,  pp.  134-137. 


302  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

In  South  Carolina  the  legislators  soon  tired 
of  the  simplicity  with  which  their  predecessors 
had  been  content.  They  reveled  in  plate-glass 
mirrors  and  Gothic  chairs,  and  then  stole  them. 
The  furniture  of  the  hall  of  the  House,  which 
has  since  been  furnished  for  $3000,  cost  over 
850,000  in  a  single  session.  In  four  years  the 
sum  of  1200,000  was  expended  for  furniture,  and 
at  the  end  of  that  time  a  diligent  search  failed 
to  disclose  more  than  $  18,000  worth,  even  esti 
mating  it  at  the  original  cost.  In  a  single  ses 
sion  of  the  legislature  the  sum  of  $350,000  was 
appropriated  for  "  supplies,  sundries,  and  inci 
dentals,"  of  which  $125,000  went  for  maintain 
ing  a  restaurant  in  the  Capitol,  where  liquors 
and  other  refreshments  were  furnished  to  mem 
bers  and  their  friends  at  the  public  expense. 
In  the  year  preceding  the  war  the  taxes  did  not 
exceed  $400,000.  In  1871  they  reached  the 
sum  of  $2,000,000,  although  the  tax  valuation 
was  but  little  more  than  one  third  as  great  as  in 
the  first  named  year.  Millions  of  the  bonds  of 
the  State  were  disposed  of  at  a  small  fraction 
of  their  full  value.  In  four  years  the  public 
debt  was  increased  by  over  $13,000,000,  and  it 
represented  little  but  extravagance  and  theft. 
Real  estate,  by  reason  of  its  immovable  charac 
ter,  could  not,  like  personal  property,  be  the 
subject  of  larceny,  but  the  confiscation  through 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION       303 

taxation,  to  which  it  was  subject,  made  its  exemp 
tion  from  being  stolen  of  little  practical  conse 
quence.  In  1874  2900  pieces  of  real  estate  in 
Charleston  County  were  forfeited  for  taxes,  and 
nearly  half  a  million  acres  of  land  were  sold  for 
unpaid  taxes  or  forfeited  to  the  State. 

Not  only  were  state  rights  piWI  np;  hnf.  mu, 
nicJ£al_  and. -county ^bts~  greatly- i-neroasod  also. 
Valuable  franchises  were  lavishly  granted.  The 
doors  of  penal  institutions  were  opened.  In  two 
years  a  single  governor  granted  457  pardons,  and 
at  the  end  of  his  term  the  number  of  convicts 
remaining  in  the  penitentiary  had  dwindled  to 
one  third  that  number.  Everywhere  it  was  the 
same  story  —  incompetency,  bribery,  robbery ; 
and  the  governmental  machine  was  chiefly  em 
ployed  as  an  agency  of  plunder.  South  Caro 
lina  enjoyed  the  evil  distinction  of  leading  in 
this  hideous  carnival,  as  she  had  led  in  the  se 
cession  movement ;  but  in  all  the  States  where 
the  newly  enfranchised  f reedmen  formed  a  large 
proportion  of  the  population,  corruption  and 
profligacy  were  the  rule,  and  in  some  of  them 
society  was  rapidly  approaching  the  point  of 
dissolution.  Mr.  Lecky  did  not  color  the  pic 
ture  too  darkly  when  he  characterized  this  re 
gime  as  "  a  grotesque  parody  of  government,  a 
hideous  orgy  of  anarchy,  violence,  unrestrained 
corruption,  undisguised,  ostentatious,  insulting 


304  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

robbery,  such  as  the  world  had  scarcely  ever 
seen." 1 

Nor  did  the  loss  of  property  measure  the  dam 
age  which  resulted.  The  misgovernment  soon 
reached  the  point  where  it  invited  revolution. 
Conspicuous  as  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  for  his  de 
votion  to  law,  he  strives  for  it  not  as  an  end, 
but  as  an  instrumentality  in  securing  his  well- 
being  and  bringing  about  progress  and  civiliza 
tion.  When  Southern  white  men  saw  the  forms 
of  law  undeniably  employed  for  the  destruction 
of  social  order  and  the  disorganization  of  so 
ciety  ;  when  that  which  they  regarded  as  a  chief 
agency  of  civilization  was  used  to  tear  it  down, 
they  employed  violent  and  unlawful  methods  to 
overturn  the  regime,  and  forcibly  took  posses 
sion  of  the  state  governments.  Their  power, 
however,  which  was  sufficient  for  usurpation, 
was  not  sufficient  to  change  the  laws,  some  of 
which  were  national  and  beyond  their  control, 
and  the  demoralizing  spectacle  was  witnessed 
for  some  years  of  a  system  of  government  find 
ing  a  continuing  basis  in  illegality  and  fraud. 
The  same  violence,  too,  which  gave  them  control 
of  the  local  governments  gave  them  a  political 
power  in  federal  elections,  and  tainted  the  Presi 
dency,  the  Congress,  the  national  laws,  and  their 
administration,  with  the  poisonous  influences  of 

1  Democracy  and  Liberty,  1-98. 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        305 

the  fraud.  It  was  by  no  means  the  least  of  the 
evil  consequences  of  this  system  that  law-abiding 
men  in  distant  States  were  compelled  to  submit 
to  violence  as  a  factor  in  the  enactment  of  the 
laws  by  which  they  were  to  be  governed. 

But  the  immediate  effect  of  a  policy  does  not 
alone  constitute  the  true  measure  of  its  wisdom. 
The  working  of  the  experiment  should  not  be 
received  unreservedly  and  without  caution,  tried 
as  it  was  in  States  lying  prostrate  under  revo 
lution  piled  upon  revolution.  That  some  bad 
results  followed  the  policy  of  reconstruction 
does  not  necessarily  convict  those  who  adopted 
it  of  unwise  action.  As  well  might  one  judge 
of  an  amputation  by  pointing  only  to  the  fever, 
the  suffering,  and  the  maimed  and  crippled  con 
dition,  as  if  the  previous  state  of  the  patient  had 
been  perfect,  and  the  alternatives  were  not  the 
loss  of  a  life  or  the  loss  of  a  limb.  The  wisdom 
which  passes  judgment  upon  a  situation  a  third  of 
a  century  afterwards  has  an  obvious  advantage 
over  the  wisdom  which  is  compelled  to  deal 
with  it.  We  of  to-day  also  lose  sight  of  many 
of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  problem  was 
surrounded,  and  which  have  disappeared  in  the 
distance.  The  choice,  which  Stevens  and  the 
statesmen  associated  with  him  were  compelled 
to  make,  did  not  lie  between  the  course  actually 
adopted  and  an  ideal  condition  of  things.  In 


306  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  light  in  which  they  acted,  they  were  com 
pelled  to  deal  with  as  grave  a  national  situation 
as  ever  existed.  It  was  beyond  the  power  of 
any  surgery  at  once  to  deliver  society,  well  and 
whole,  from  the  condition  in  which  its  errors 
and  crimes  had  placed  it. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  great  evils  would  in 
evitably  result  from  conferring  the  suffrage  upon 
large  numbers  of  men  who  had  just  emerged 
from  slavery,  and  who  came  of  a  race  which 

had    Tijayftr_JbftftTi     snhnnlprl     in     gplf.remm^rLmATif 

The  real  question  is  whether  greater  evils  would 
not  have  come  from  adopting  any  other  course. 
Those  four  million  black  men  were  in  our  coun 
try  through  no  fault  of  their  own.  They  had 
been  held  as  unwilling  slaves.  It  was  not  pos 
sible  to  evade  the  problem  by  their  wholesale 
deportation.  They  were  newly  endowed  with 
freedom  as  a  result  not  of  the  enlightenment  of 
their  masters  nor  of  any  peaceful  course,  but  of 
one  of  the  bloodiest  and  most  expensive  of  wars. 
What  would  have  been  the  condition  of  those 
helpless  beings  left  without  the  full  rights  of 
citizenship  and  at  the  mercy  of  legislation  im 
posed  by  those  who  had  ceased  to  own  them 
only  because  they  had  been  compelled  to  do 
so? 

Proof  was  not  wanting  that,  under  such  con 
ditions,  the  freedom  of  the  black  man  would 


RECONSTRUCTION  LEGISLATION        307 

have  been  in  serious  danger.  If,  before  Con 
gress  had  taken  any  action,  and  when  the  pro 
visional  governments  were  on  their  good  beha 
vior,  such  anti-negro  laws  were  enacted  as  those 
to  which  I  have  alluded,  what  could  have  been 
expected  if  the  President's  policy  had  been 
approved  and  made  permanent,  and  the  States 
had  been  readmitted  on  the  basis  which  he  had 
proposed  ?  "Was  there  not  ground  for  the  fear 
that  freedom  would  soon  become  but  little  better 
than  a  mere  name  ?  Even  after  Congress  had 
acted  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  and  had  been  sus 
tained  at  the  polls  by  an  enormous  majority  of 
the  Northern  people,  the  fourteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  which  did  not  involve  negro 
suffrage,  was  contemptuously  rejected  by  the 
Southern  States.  The  action  of  the  Southern 
people  was  probably  what  that  of  the  North 
ern  people  would  have  been  under  the  same 
circumstances.  It  was  doubtless  entirely  na 
tural.  But  would  it  not  also  have  been  entirely 
natural  that  they  should  be  willing  to  secure  by 
law  as  much  as  possible  of  what  they  had  lost 
by  war,  including  their  right  to  the  labor  of  the 
black  men  whom  they  had  claimed  to  own  ?  It 
was  necessary  also  that  the  remedy  should  be 
rigidly  prescribed  by  legislation,  for  no  assist 
ance  in  the  way  of  a  discreet  or  friendly  admin 
istration  could  be  expected  from  the  President, 


308  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

who  was  uncompromisingly  opposed  to  any  plan 
of  reorganization  except  his  own. 

Whatever  path  might  be  followed  was  sure  to 
be  surrounded  with  some  peril.  Congress  took 
that  course  which  appeared  at  the  time  to  be 
attended  with  the  slightest  danger  to  liberty. 
The  undefended  rights  of  freedmen  were  indeed 
weak.  Armed  with  the  ballot  they  would  be 
none  too  strong.  Having  exterminated  slavery 
at  such  a  tremendous  cost,  Congress  adopted  that 
policy  which,  under  the  conditions  then  exist- 
ing,  promised  the  least  risk  to  liberty.  But  it 
was  most  unfortunate  that  Johnson. jjhouli  have 
taken  the  place  o|  Lincoln  at  a  time  when  there 
was  a  more  pressing  demand  for  a  man  of  saga 
cious  statesmanship  and  great  popular  strength 
at  the  White  House  than  at  any  time  since 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  Lincoln  had 
the  wisdom  to  advise*  and  would^probablyjiave 
had  the  authority  to  secure,  a  system  of^jyrajual 
enfranchisement,  which^  would  have  Jbeen  safer 
for  the  country  and  infinitely  juster  to  the  black 
man j  upon  whom  would  not  have  been  cruelly 
cast,  suddenly  and  without  any .  .previous,  pre- 
parat ion,  the  heavy  and  exacting  responsibilities 
of  citizenship. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

WIT   AND   OTHER,  CHARACTERISTICS 

STEVENS  possessed  a  remarkably  strong  sense 
of  humor  under  the  influence  of  a  correct  taste. 
He  relied  little  upon  mere  extravagance,  and 
rarely  dealt  those  "  sledge-hammer  blows,"  so 
characteristic  of  what  Sydney  Smith  terms 
"  wut,"  which  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  the 
more  delicate  surgical  operation  generally  re 
quired,  according  to  the  same  authority,  to  get 
a  joke  through  a  Scotchman's  head.  His  wit 
was  light,  usually  genial,  and  in  quality  like  the 
autumn  sunshine.  It  was  also  unfailing.  When 
it  suited  his  purpose,  however,  he  could  make  it 
bitter,  cynical  and  even  brutal  in  tone.  He 
never  indulged  in  elaborately  constructed  scho 
lastic  jokes,  which  smell  painfully  of  the  lamp, 
and  which  one  requites  with  laughter  largely 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  as  a  tribute  to  the  dignity 
of  labor.  Indeed  he  ha,d  no  time  to  study  up 
his  witticisms  even  if  he  had  possessed  the  incli 
nation,  for  he  was  almost  constantly  upon  his 
feet  in  the  House  or  engaged  with  his  over 
worked  committees. 


310  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

Page  after  page  of  the  record  of  debates,  while 
he  was  a  member  of  the  House,  is  lighted  up  by 
his  sparkling  answers  to  objections,  and  by  his 
free,  offhand,  and  sometimes  trifling  playfulness. 
He  himself  was  a  great  part  of  what  he  said,  and 
his  wit  was  so  unstudied  and  so  exactly  apt  to 
the  occasion  that  some  use  of  the  imagination  is 
occasionally  necessary  to  reproduce  the  circum 
stances  in  which  he  spoke  in  order  to  understand 
the  merriment  which  the  record  shows.  Mr. 
Morrill,  who  was  intimately  associated  with  him 
for  many  years  in  the  House,  speaks  of  his 
"  running  undertone  commentary,"  usually  lost 
by  the  reporters,  upon  the  business  of  the  House, 
and  of  the  fun  which  he  created  and  which  was 
"  lost  in  the  whirl  of  business."  "  Never  in 
deed,"  he  added,  "  was  wit  of  all  varieties,  coarse 
and  fine,  exhibited  in  more  bewildering  profu 
sion.  He  daily  wasted  in  this  private  and  semi- 
grotesque  distribution  of  mirth,  sense,  and  sa 
tire,  often  indiscriminately  among  friends  and 
foes,  a  capital  sufficient,  could  it  have  been  pre 
served,  to  rival  almost  any  of  the  acknowledged 
masters  among  the  colloquial  wits  of  this  or 
possibly  of  any  age."  l 

He  was  fond  of  telling  stories  to  his  fellow 
members.  Many  are  the  anecdotes  that  are  told 
of  him,  some  of  them  very  likely  of  doubtful 
1  Senate  Proceedings.  Congressional  Globe,  Dec.  18,  1868. 


WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    311 

authenticity,  but  many  also  characteristic  and 
doubtless  genuine.  It  may  not  be  inappropriate 
to  give  a  few  specimens  of  his  humor,  selected 
somewhat  at  random  from  the  "  Congressional 
Globe,"  or  as  I  have  received  them  from  his 
associates  in  the  House. 

Stevens  and  Cameron  were  far  from  being 
warm  friends.  Even  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
was  not  quite  large  enough  for  two  such  positive 
characters  to  associate  peacefully  together  in  the 
leadership  of  the  same  political  party.  Stevens 
was  informed  that  Lincoln  was  intending  to  ap 
point  Cameron  to  an  important  office,  and  he 
called  upon  the  President  to  enter  a  remon 
strance.  What  he  said  about  Cameron  was  far 
from  flattering  as  well  also  as  far  from  definite. 
"  You  don't  mean  to  say,"  said  Lincoln,  "  that 
Cameron  would  steal?"  "No,"  said  Stevens, 
"  I  don't  think  he  would  steal  a  red-hot  stove." 
This  was  too  good  for  Lincoln  to  keep,  and  he 
told  it  to  Cameron.  The  latter,  not  unnaturally, 
failed  to  show  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  humor 
of  the  remark,  and  soon  afterwards  a  member 
of  the  House,  who  sat  near  Stevens,  observed 
Cameron  come  into  the  hall  in  high  dudgeon 
and  enter  into  a  very  animated  conversation 
with  Stevens.  Cameron  said  that  he  had  been 
greatly  injured  and  that  Stevens  should  retract 
what  he  had  said.  Stevens  endeavored  to  pacify 


312  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

him,  and  finally  consented  to  do  what  Cameron 
asked  of  him.  He  called  upon  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  this  was  the  manner  in  which  he  made 
amends.  "  Mr.  Lincoln,"  said  Stevens,  "  why 
did  you  tell  Cameron  what  I  said  to  you ?  "  "I 
thought,"  said  Lincoln,  "  that  it  was  a  good 
joke,  and  I  didn't  think  it  would  make  him 
mad."  "  Well,"  replied  Stevens,  "  he  is  very 
mad  and  made  me  promise  to  retract.  I  will 
now  do  so.  I  believe  I  told  you  that  I  did  n't 
think  he  would  steal  a  red-hot  stove.  I  now 
take  that  back." 

During  a  debate  in  the  House  a  member  who 
was  speaking  kept  walking  continually  up  and 
down  the  aisle,  and  back  and  forth  across  the 
area,  under  the  excitement  of  his  effort,  as  mem 
bers  are  sometimes  prone  to  do.  After  watching 
this  pedestrian  performance  for  some  time  Ste 
vens  checked  it  by  calling  out  to  the  member 
by  name,  "  Do  you  expect  to  get  mileage  for 
that  speech?" 

In  April,  1862,  a  fierce  attack,  in  which  Mr. 
Blair,  of  Missouri,  was  prominent,  was  made  in 
the  House  upon  General  Fremont  for  certain 
alleged  transactions  in  connection  with  his  com 
mand.  It  was  enough  for  Stevens  to  know  that 
Fremont  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  slave,  and  he 
ardently  defended  him  in  a  speech  which  affords 
a  very  good  illustration  of  his  offhand  congres- 


WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    313 

sional  manner.  He  made  a  lawyer-like  reply  to 
Blair,  and  after  accusing  him  of  overlooking 
some  material  testimony  in  his  eagerness  to 
blacken  General  Fremont,  added :  "  Sir,  such 
things  in  a  pettifogger  would  be  detestable,  but 
in  a  member  of  this  House  they  are  respectable. 
[Much  laughter.]  "  Mr.  Blair  hereupon  asked  : 
"  What  was  the  gentleman's  remark  ?  I  did  not 
hear  it."  Stevens :  "  I  said  that  in  a  member 
of  the  House  they  were  respectable,  and  I  hope 
the  gentleman  takes  no  offense  at  that.  [Laugh 
ter.]  "  i 

Later  in  the  same  speech  Stevens  discussed 
the  charge  that  one  Sacchi,  a  member  of  Fre 
mont's  staff,  had  made  a  contract  to  provide 
horses  that  were  never  furnished,  and  he  pro 
ceeded  to  show  from  the  testimony  that  Sacchi 
had  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  contract.  Mr. 
Conkling  asked  permission  to  interrupt  Stevens 
with  a  remark,  which  was  freely  granted,  and 
he  then  took  the  floor,  not  as  might  have  been 
supposed  to  say  a  word  about  horses,  but  to 
indulge  in  a  lofty  flight  in  which  he  said  that 
Sacchi  had  been  "  decorated  for  heroic  action 
upon  the  battlefields  of  Italy,"  that  he  "  came 
here  following  the  Star  of  Freedom  as  the  shepr 
herds  followed  the  Star  of  Bethlehem,"  that  he 
came,  "  in  the  language  of  another,  '  to  crusade 

1  Congressional  Globe,  April  21,  1862. 


314  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

for  freedom  in  freedom's  holy  land.'  "  This  was 
too  fine  for  Stevens,  although  it  was  upon  his 
side  of  the  case,  and  amid  much  laughter  he 
punctured  this  magnificence  and  summoned  the 
House  back  to  the  earth  again  by  saying  dryly, 
"  It  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that  he  is  not  the 
man  who  made  the  horse  contract  at  all."  1 

Upon  one  occasion  a  member  who  affected 
great  humility  and  a  low  estimate  of  the  value 
of  his  own  views,  which  however  he  was  willing 
to  inflict  upon  the  House  at  all  times,  had  urged 
Stevens  to  yield  him  time  to  make  a  speech 
upon  a  certain  measure.  When  Stevens  had 
finished  his  own  speech  he  said,  apparently  hit 
ting  off  what  the  member  in  question  might 
be  expected  to  say  of  himself,  "  I  now  yield  to 
Mr. ,  who  will  make  a  few  feeble  remarks." 

Mr.  Brooks,  of  New  York,  the  Democratic 
leader,  had  made  a  most  carefully  prepared  par 
tisan  speech  which  ransacked  history,  and  Ste 
vens  was  expected  to  reply.  Stevens  referred 
to  the  gentleman's  "  elaborate  speech,  so  full  of 
literary  and  historical  allusions  which  in  super 
ficial  scholars  might  look  like  pedantry,  but  in 
the  learned  gentleman  are  but  the  natural  and 
graceful  overflow  of  a  well-stored  mind."  He 
would  not  say  Brooks  had  lied,  but  he  did  say, 
"  there  is  nothing  to  the  contrary  but  the  remark 
1  Congressional  Globe,  April  21,  1862. 


WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    315 

of  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  which,  I  beg 
leave  to  say,  is  not  now  evidence  in  a  court  of 
justice."  As  to  the  anti  -  Lincoln  movement 
which  Brooks  had  discovered  in  the  Republican 
party,  Stevens  said  that  it  would  not  call  forth 
from  the  President  "  anything  more  than  a  per 
tinent  joke."  To  the  proposition  to  run  McClel- 
lan  for  the  presidency,  he  said  that  the  Demo 
crats  could  not  be  "  in  earnest  in  attempting  to 
run  him,  as  they  know  that  he  cannot  raise  a 
trot.  He  never  did,  when  a  forward  movement 
was  in  question." 

He  had  banter  also  for  his  friends.  Mr. 
Washburne  of  Illinois,  a  leading  Republican 
member,  refused  to  support  a  bill  in  which  Ste 
vens  was  interested,  and  persistently  fought  it 
upon  every  occasion.  Stevens  spoke  of  him  as 
displaying  "  that  kind  of  pertinacity  which  I  so 
much  admire  when  directed  to  a  laudable  object, 
but  which  sometimes  degenerates  into  obstinacy 
when  he  is  wrong  ;  of  course  I  do  not  mean  in 
the  gentleman  from  Illinois,  but  in  others." 

Sometimes  his  personal  references  were  far 
less  oblique,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following, 
which  I  give  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Dawes.  "  Mr. 
Maynard,  of  Tennessee,  afterwards  minister  to 
Turkey  and  postmaster  -  general,  although  a 
native  of  Massachusetts  and  a  scholar  of  cul 
ture  as  well  as  an  exceedingly  amiable  gentle- 


316  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

man,  yet  so  resembled  an  Indian  that  most 
people  believed  him  to  be  at  least  half  a  one. 
One  intensely  hot  day  in  July  a  melting  sun 
was  pouring  in  upon  our  heads  through  the 
glass  ceiling,  while  Mr.  Stevens,  in  nankin  trou 
sers  and  shirt-sleeves,  was  conducting  the  Indian 
appropriation  bill  through  the  House  and  was 
well-nigh  worn  out  with  the  heat  and  fatigue. 
Mr.  Maynard  had  been  all  day  persistently  put 
ting  him  questions  and  opposing  features  of  his 
bill,  when  some  member,  expressing  great  sym 
pathy  for  Mr.  Stevens,  moved  an  adjournment 
that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  to  rest.  But 
Mr.  Stevens,  turning  just  enough  towards  the 
swarthy  Tennessee  member,  remonstrated,  say 
ing  :  '  Mr.  Speaker,  I  can  get  along  well  enough 
with  the  Indians,  but  these  half-breeds  trouble 
me  'most  to  death.'  " l 

Mr.  Henry  Winter  Davis  of  Maryland  was  a 
brilliant  orator,  but  did  not  possess  the  fibre 
necessary  to  endure  the  blows  which  inevitably 
come  to  one  who  takes  a  prominent  part  in  poli 
tics.  An  instance  of  this  was  seen  in  his  some 
what  petulant  request  to  be  relieved  from  service 
as  chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs.  Stevens  mildly  interposed  in  the  de 
bate  and  said :  "  If  the  chairman  of  a  committee 

1  MS.  Dawes's  Dartmouth  College  Lecture  on  "  Stevens  as 
a  Leader  in  a  Great  Crisis." 


WIT  AND   OTHER   CHARACTERISTICS    317 

is  to  consider  himself  personally  offended  when 
the  House  votes  down  propositions  which  he 
brings  forward,  some  of  us  would  have  been  out 
of  employment  long  ago.  Why,  sir,  when  my 
friend  here  (Mr.  Washburne)  introduced  his 
proposition  to  tax  the  stock  of  whiskey  on  hand, 
and  rode  triumphantly  through  this  House  upon 
the  bead  of  the  liquor,  while  I  was  completely 
submerged,  I  did  not  ask  to  be  excused  ;  it  was 
a  gentle  ducking,  from  which  I  expected  to  re 
cover,  hoping  to  come  out  renovated  by  the 
bath." 

Quotations  of  this  character  from  Stevens's 
speeches  in  Congress  could  be  multiplied  inde 
finitely.  As  he  grew  older  his  gayety  of  spirit 
increased,  and  no  infirmity  could  restrain  its 
expression.  During  the  last  months  of  his  life 
his  health  was  so  slender  that  he  had  frequently 
to  be  carried  about  upon  a  chair.  The  solemn 
procession  of  the  House  each  day  from  its  hall 
to  the  Senate  chamber,  following  the  managers, 
among  whom  Stevens  was  carried,  was  one  of 
the  striking  ceremonies  of  the  impeachment. 
One  day  he  said  to  the  two  stalwart  fellows  who 
bore  him,  "  Who  will  carry  me,  boys,  when  you 
are  dead  and  gone  ?  " 

In  appearance  he  was  tall  and  commanding, 
and,  although  somewhat  slender,  he  had  an  ath 
letic  frame.  His  favorite  exercise  during  most 


318  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

of  his  life  was  horseback-riding,  and  he  spent 
much  of  his  leisure  in  the  saddle.  He  was  also 
fond  of  attending  horse-races.  He  was  an  ex 
cellent  swimmer,  and  often  swam  across  "  Joe's 
Pond,"  as  he  called  it,  which  he  said  was  one 
and  a  half  miles  wide  and  "  cold  as  a  spring." 
He  declared  that  he  could  swim  the  Bosphorus 
as  easily  as  Byron  did.  He  resembled  Byron 
in  another  particular,  for  he  had  a  club  foot; 
but,  unlike  Byron,  he  did  not  seek  to  conceal 
his  deformity.  This  appears  to  have  only 
slightly  affected  his  walking,  —  "a  little  lame," 
Mr.  Morrill  called  him,  —  and  he  assisted  him 
self  with  a  cane.  He  had  a  large  mouth,  thin 
upper  lip,  prominent  aquiline  nose,  and  massive 
head.  "  No  stranger,"  said  Mr.  Dawes,  "  would 
pass  him  on  the  street  without  turning  for  a 
second  look  at  an  unmistakably  great  character. 
On  great  occasions,  when  his  untamable  spirit 
had  got  the  mastery  of  him,  he  no  longer  looked 
like  a  man,  at  least  like  any  other  man  I  ever 
saw."  ! 

While  usually  cold  and  unemotional  in  his 
later  years,  he  was  terribly  in  earnest  upon  the 
great  public  questions  with  which  he  dealt.  He 
did  not  pursue  reform  because  it  was  fashion 
able,  nor  because  it  gave  him  an  opportunity 

1  Dartmouth  College  Lecture  on  "  Stevens  as  a  Leader  in  a 
Great  Crisis." 


WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    319 

to  abuse  somebody,  although  upon  occasion  few 
enjoyed  that  privilege  more  keenly. 

He  was  very  fond  of  general  literature,  with 
the  exception  of  fiction,  and  his  miscellaneous 
library  may  be  taken  as  illustrating  his  taste. 
It  was  rich  in  history  and  the  classics,  but  con 
tained  few  novels.  He  delighted  especially  in 
legal  study,  and  his  law  library  was  one  of  the 
best  in  his  State.  During  his  last  visit  to  Lan 
caster  he  looked  about  him  upon  the  shelves 
laden  with  his  law-books,  and  said  sadly,  "  It 's 
a  pity  that  there  is  no  one  to  keep  this  going," 

In  his  prime  he  was  impassioned  in  manner, 
and  in  his  carefully  prepared  speeches  he  exhib 
ited  a  directness  and  energy  combined  with  a! 
terse  felicity  of  expression  for  which  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  find  his  match  among  American  orators. 
Nobody,  said  Mr.  Sumner,  could  express  more 
in  fewer  words,  or  give  "  to  language  a  sharper 
bite."  He  aimed  to  express  his  idea  in  the 
fewest  possible  words,  and  never  affected  a  ro 
tundity  of  style.  After  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  the  demands  upon  him  were  so  great  that 
he  had  little  time  for  constructing  elaborate 
orations,  and  his  speaking  was  usually  called 
forth  by  the  occasion  and  was  exactly  adapted 
to  it.  Under  these  circumstances,  his  self- 
command  and  the  form  of  his  speech  were  re 
markable.  He  was  always  striking  and  forcible, 


320  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

and  occasionally  he  rose  to  the  heights  of  spon 
taneous  eloquence,  all  the  more  effective  because 
unstudied. 

During  the  period  of  his  leadership  in  the 
House  he  had  many  personal  encounters  in 
debate,  and  with  strong  and  much  younger  men, 
like  Butler,  Conkling,  Schenck,  Garfield,  and 
Blaine ;  and  the  latter,  who  was  so  well  fitted  to 
speak,  says  that  he  was  "a  man  who  had  the 
courage  to  meet  any  opponent,  and  who  was 
never  overmatched  in  intellectual  conflict."1 
Mr.  Dawes  aptly  termed  him  "  a  great  intellec 
tual  gladiator." 

He  exhibited  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  busi 
ness  when  he  attended  to  it,  but  he  displayed 
a  noble  disdain  of  his  private  interests  when  his 
attention  was  required  by  public  affairs.  This 
course,  and  a  willingness  to  assume  obligations 
for  others,  appear  to  have  reduced  him,  at  least 
twice  in  his  life,  to  a  condition  of  insolvency ;  but 
he  manfully  discharged  his  obligations  without 
taking  advantage  of  any  bankrupt  law.  "  I  feel 
that  my  creditors,"  he  said,  "  are  entitled,  among 
my  other  worldly  goods,  to  my  labor  until  I  am 
dead.  If  my  debts  are  not  paid  then,  the  bank 
rupt  law  of  another  world  will  cancel  them."  2 

1  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  326. 

2  Interview  with   the  Washington   correspondent   of  New 
York  Tribune,  printed  August  14,  1868. 


WIT  AND  OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS    321 

During  their  invasion  of  Pennsylvania  in  1863 
the  Confederates  burned  his  iron-works  near 
Chambersburg.  This  reduced  him  to  poverty 
a  third  time.  His  friends  proposed  to  raise  the 
large  sum  necessary  to  make  good  his  loss,  but, 
learning  of  the  movement,  he  discouraged  it  and 
refused  in  advance  to  accept  the  money.  Not 
withstanding  this  reverse  so  late  in  life,  he  left 
a  considerable  fortune  at  his  death.  He  lived 
in  an  unpretentious  manner  in  a  severely  plain 
house  in  Lancaster.  In  Washington  he  lived 
with  equal  simplicity  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  Capitol.  He  never  married. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  detect  the  secret  of  Ste 
ven  s's  success  as  a  parliamentary  leader.  His 
ability  to  cope  with  any  antagonist:  his  mt, 
which  was  employed  unsparingly  upon  his  timid 
supporters  as  well  as  upon  his  foes ;  his  invin- 
cible_courage  :  the  facility  with  which  he  would 
sometimes  make  use  of  the  enemy  when  his 
friends  deserted  him  ;  and  his  resolute  adherence 
to  the  important  lines  of  his  great  policies',  es 
tablished  him  in  the  position  of  leadership  be 
yond  the  reach  of  all  competition.  Mr.  Blaine 
in  his  eulogy  upon  President  Garfield  accords 
Stevens  a  place  among  the  three  great  parlia 
mentary  leaders  in  our  history,  naming  him 
with  Clay  and  Douglas.  Clay  surpassed  Stevens 
in  some  important  qualities,  and  notably  in  the 


322  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

power  to  devise  the  remedies  to  enable  the  coun 
try  to  pass  peacefully  through  a  great  crisis. 
This  however  is  rather  an  attribute  of  the  states 
man  ;  but  if  the  foremost  place  as  a  parliamen 
tary  leader  is  to  be  given  to  either,  it  must  be 
accorded  to  that  one  who,  during  those  years 
from  1860  to  1868,  crowded  thick  as  they  were 
with  events  unsurpassed  in  magnitude,  unequaled 
in  difficulty,  never  took  a  backward  step,  never 
even  faltered,  who  embodied  upon  the  floor  of 
the  House  the  genius  of  war  and  the  genius  of 
victory,  and  who  exercised  the  power  of  com 
mand  with  undiminished  authority  until  he  died. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   IMPEACHMENT 

THE  difference  between  the  President  and 
Congress  had  become  so  serious,  and  party  spirit 
ran  so  high,  that  the  threats  to  impeach  him 
culminated  in  the  presentation  of  three  resolu 
tions  on  the  same  day  during  the  last  session  of 
the  thirty-ninth  Congress.  But  there  was  at 
that  time  no  ground  for  impeachment  which 
could  appear  to  be  sound,  save  to  the  most  par 
tisan  imagination.  It  is  only  necessary  to  read 
the  resolutions  to  see  that  the  charges  were 
mere  sound  and  fury.  There  was,  however, 
even  at  that  early  day,  a  large  number  of  mem 
bers  who  were  in  earnest  in  support  of  the  im 
peachment  proposition.  No  definite  action  was 
taken  during  that  Congress. 

The  fortieth  Congress  would  not  have  as 
sembled,  in  the  usual  course  of  affairs,  until 
December,  1867,  unless  called  together  by  the 
President  in  extraordinary  session.  But  since 
Congress  had  broken  with  him,  and  assumed  as 
far  as  possible  the  government  of  the  country,  it 


324  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

did  not  propose  to  permit  him  to  exercise  such 
powers  as  he  possessed  under  the  Constitution 
and  such  others  as  he  might  choose  to  assume, 
without  some  restraint  upon  him.  It  showed  its 
distrust  in  a  striking  manner  by  passing  a  statute 
under  which  the  fortieth  Congress  assembled  on 
the  fourth  day  of  March,  1867,  immediately  upon 
the  expiration  of  the  thirty-ninth.  By  taking 
successive  recesses,  this  session  was  prolonged 
until  the  time  of  the  December  session. 

During  the  short  sittings  before  the  first  regu 
lar  session,  Stevens  continued  to  devote  his  at 
tention  to  the  work  of  reconstruction  and  kin 
dred  measures,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that 
he  adhered  rigidly  to  the  lines  which  he  had 
Ion  2;  before  laid  down.  He  introduced  a  bill  to 

O  _..,MMWVMMMHM"HnM"*^M"M»-*      LI 

<vnjrnvpft    ffrfl    flpnfigPQf.im^     fln^    anrl    to    forfeit    all 

the  public  lands  of  the  Confederate  States  to 
the  United  States,  as  a  measure  in  the  nature 
of  war  indemnity,  to  provide  homes  for  former 
slaves,  and  a  fund  out  of  which  loyal  claimants 
might  be  paid  for  damages  to  their  property  by 
the  operations  of  the  war.  His  elaborate  speech 
of  March  19, 1867,  in  support  of  this  bill,  is  not 
wholly  agreeable  reading;  but  it  was  entirely 
consistent  with  the  principles  he  had  advocated 
during  the  rebellion.  He  sarcastically  gave  the 
credit  of  the  bill  to  Andrew  Johnson,  of  whom 
he  claimed  to  have  been  a  disciple,  and  in  order 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  325 

to  mark  the  inconsistency  of  "  the  man  at  the 
other  end  of  the  Avenue,"  as  he  termed  the 
President,  he  quoted  from  one  of  the  numerous 
speeches  which  Johnson  had  made,  urging  the 
punishment  and  impoverishment  of  traitors  and 
the  division  and  sale  of  their  plantations.  The 
President,  he  declared,  favored  confiscation 
while  he  was  "  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind," 
but  "  Seward  entered  into  him,  and  ever  since 
they  have  been  running  down  steep  places  into 
the  sea."  He  did  not  believe  in  bloody  penal 
ties,  he  said,  but  he  strongly  believed  in  the 
justice  of  confiscating  the  estates  of  the  leading 
rebels  as  a  punishment  for  their  crimes,  and  to 
aid  in  repairing  the  ravages  of  the  war.  He 
made  a  strong  case  out  of  history  and  the  au 
thorities  for  the  legality  of  the  proceeding,  but 
he  signally  failed  to  sustain  it  as  a  matter  of 
sound  policy. 

The  speech  displayed  a  good  deal  of  the 
lawyer,  but  little  of  the  statesman.  The  war 
had  been  ended  for  two  years,  and  the  people  of 
the  South  had  paid  the  severest  penalties.  The 
enforcement  of  confiscation  would  not  have  paid 
even  in  the  narrow  financial  sense.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  would  have  produced  a  bitterness 
of  feeling  likely  to  survive  for  generations. 
Surely,  if  we  were  ever  again  to  live  as  one 
nation,  the  time  for  such  measures  had  long 


326  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

gone  by.  It  is  probable  that  Stevens  had  in 
view  the  ultimate  payment  of  the  great  pecuni 
ary  losses  inflicted  upon  Pennsylvania  by  Lee's 
army,  and  that  his  demonstration  was  not  with 
out  the  purpose  of  securing  the  passage  of  a  bill 
having  that  object.  He  concluded  this  speech 
with  a  eulogy  upon  Lincoln,  whom  he  had 
usually  supported,  but  whom  his  biting  wit  had 
not  always  spared.  He  denied  that  Lincoln 
would  have  put  in  force  the  Johnson  policy  of 
reconstruction ;  but,  if  he  was  intending  to  do 
so,  "  that  overruling  Providence  that  so  well 
guided  him  did  not  permit  such  a  calamity  to 
befall  him,"  but  "  allowed  him  to  acquire  a  most 
enviable  reputation,  and  then,  before  there  was 
a  single  spot  upon  it,  4  he  sailed  into  the  fiery 
sunset  and  left  sweet  music  in  Cathay.' ' 

The  breach  between  the  President  and  Con 
gress  constantly  widened  as  the  session  wore  on. 
Bills  were  passed  strengthening  the  laws  upon 
reconstruction,  and  they  were  defiantly  vetoed. 
The  efficiency  of  these  measures  was  also  much 
impaired  by  hostile  administration.  The  veto 
of  one  of  the  supplementary  reconstruction  acts 
was  made  the  occasion  for  a  good  deal  of  violent 
denunciation  of  the  President,  and  for  threats 
of  his  impeachment.  Stevens  was  very  willing 
to  impeach  him,  but  believed  in  the  futility  of 
the  proceedings.  "  I  have  taken  some  pains," 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  327 

he  said  during  the  debate  of  July  19,  1867, 
"  to  look  into  the  position  of  this  House  and 
of  the  Senate,  and  am  quite  sure  that  there  is 
power  enough,  first,  to  prevent  the  voting  of 
the  impeachment  here;  and,  secondly,  if  im 
peachment  were  voted,  to  prevent  conviction 
elsewhere."  He  was  quite  right  in  his  estimate. 
The  impeachment  proceedings  then  pending  were 
decisively  beaten  in  the  House  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  following  session,  and  even  when 
the  case  was  so  greatly  strengthened  by  the 
removal  of  Stanton  it  was  not  sustained  by  the 
Senate. 

What  more  effectually  produced  irritation  in 
the  minds  of  members  than  differences  upon 
great  policies  was  the  course  of  the  President 
with  reference  to  the  patronage.  The  distribu 
tion  of  offices  was  a  dearly-prized  function  of 
the  member  of  Congress,  and  the  majority  of  the 
representatives  little  relished  the  wholesale  re 
moval  of  their  political  friends  and  the  filling 
of  vacancies  by  their  foes.  They  could  throw 
the  broad  mantle  of  charity  over  any  little  differ 
ence  with  the  President  upon  the  measures  neces 
sary  to  restore  the  Union,  but  when  he  assumed 
to  appoint  a  postmaster  who  agreed  politically 
with  him,  instead  of  with  the  member  in  whose 
district  the  office  was  located,  outraged  preroga 
tive  was  apt  to  assert  itself.  In  the  case  of  the 


328  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

average  member,  a  collector  came  nearer  home 
than  the  Constitution.  The  tenure-of -office  act 
was  designed  to  check  the  President  in  creating 
and  filling  vacancies  in  office.  It  reversed  the 
practice  established  by  the  first  Congress  and 
followed  without  interruption  from  that  time ; 
and  it  cannot  fairly  be  regarded  in  any  other 
light  than  as  a  formidable  encroachment  by  Con 
gress  upon  the  constitutional  powers  of  the 
executive  department.  It  was  intended  only  for 
a  particular  emergency ;  and  after  Andrew  John 
son  had  ceased  to  be  a  political  issue,  Congress 
embraced  the  first  opportunity  to  recur  to  the 
long-sanctioned  usage,  and  repealed  the  most 
obnoxious  features  of  the  measure.  But  none 
the  less  it  supplied  the  ultimate  pretext  for  the 
impeachment. 

The  resolution,  based  upon  the  vague  charges 
which  had  been  pending  during  nearly  the  whole 
year  of  1867,  came  up  for  final  action  in  De 
cember,  and  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  nearly 
two  to  one.  Stevens  voted  for  the  impeachment 
notwithstanding  his  belief  in  its  futility.  John 
son  was  safe,  and  would  have  continued  so  had 
he  confined  himself  to  the  stubborn  use  of  the 
veto,  and  to  the  other  methods  by  which  he  had 
endeavored  to  thwart  the  will  of  Congress.  But 
he  chose  the  more  dangerous  course,  and  defi 
antly  joined  issue  with  Congress  upon  the  tenure- 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  329 

of-office  act.  The  act  required  the  consent  of 
the  Senate  to  removals  from  office,  but  provided 
that  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  should  hold 
office  "  during  the  term  of  the  President  by 
whom  they  may  have  been  appointed,  and  for 
one  month  thereafter,  subject  to  removal  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate." 
There  was  also  a  provision  for  suspension  from 
office  during  a  recess  of  the  Senate.  If  the 
Senate  should  subsequently  concur  and  consent 
to  the  removal  of  the  officer,  the  President  might 
cause  him  to  be  removed ;  but  if  the  Senate 
should  refuse  to  give  its  consent,  the  suspended 
officer  should  be  reinstated.  During  the  sum 
mer  of  1867,  the  President  requested  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  to  resign  his  office  as  Secretary  of  War. 
There  had  for  a  long  time  been  an  absence  of 
those  friendly  feelings  between  Johnson  and 
Stanton  that  should  exist  between  the  Presi 
dent  and  one  of  his  advisers,  and  the  harmony 
of  the  administration  required  that  the  antago 
nism  should  come  to  an  end.  It  is  difficult  to 
point  to  the  exact  time  of  the  estrangement  of 
the  President  from  his  Secretary.  The  funda 
mental  cause  of  the  controversy  between  the  ex 
ecutive  and  Congress  had  been  the  plan  of 
reconstruction  first  applied  to  North  Carolina, 
and  afterwards  to  the  other  Confederate  States. 
Stanton,  himself  a  leader  of  men,  apparently 


330  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

deserved  to  be  credited  with  the  preparation  of 
this  plan.1 

Responsible  as  Stanton  was  for  the  adoption  of 
the  reconstruction  policy  of  the  President,  he  suc 
ceeded  in  remaining  loyal  to  him  until  that  policy 
began  to  take  on  symptoms  of  unpopularity.  But 
at  last,  when  Congress  showed  itself  hostile,  and 
was  supported  in  the  election  of  1866,  the  Secre 
tary  bowed  to  the  popular  will  and  took  the  con 
gressional  side.  Three  of  his  associates  had  re 
signed  because  they  could  not  at  the  same  time 
remain  loyal  to  their  own  ideas  of  public  duty 
and  to  the  President,  who  was  their  executive 
chief.  Stanton's  opposition  did  not  assume  that 
shape.  He  antagonized  the  President,  consorted 
with  his  political  enemies,  but  remained  at  his 
council  board,  and  steadfastly  clung  to  office. 
Johnson  did  not  fail  to  make  known  his  desire 
for  Stanton's  retirement ;  but  the  latter  was  ob 
durate  to  all  hints,  and  finally,  when  the  Presi 
dent  requested  him  to  resign,  he  flatly  and  with 
little  courtesy  declined  to  do  so.  He  was  then 
suspended  from  his  office,  and  General  Grant 
temporarily  took  his  place. 

As  required  by  the  tenure-of-office  act,  the 
President  sent  to  the  Senate,  at  its  next  session, 

1  See  speech  of  James  S.  Wilson  in  House  of  Representa 
tives,  December  6, 1867,  also  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presi 
dents,  vol.  vi.  pp.  588,  589. 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  331 

a  statement  of  the  reasons  for  his  action.  That 
body  declined  to  sanction  the  removal,  and  Stan- 
ton  was  thereupon  restored  to  his  office.  This 
point  marked  the  high-water  mark  of  the  en 
croachments  of  Congress  upon  the  presidential 
power.  Had  Johnson  submitted,  the  degradation 
of  his  office  would  have  been  complete.  The 
duty  prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  that  the 
President  should  take  care  that  the  laws  were 
faithfully  executed,  would  have  been  an  idle  in 
junction,  and  one  impossible  to  be  performed,  if 
the  necessary  agents  selected  by  him  to  execute 
the  laws  should  be  responsible,  not  to  him,  but  to 
the  Senate.  There  could  have  been  no  head 
nor  unity  to  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment,  if  each  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet 
should  be  at  liberty  to  pursue  his  own  peculiar 
policy,  while  the  constitutional  executive  should 
be  powerless  to  intervene,  and  could  only  sup 
plicate  the  Senate  for  leave  to  dismiss  an  ob 
noxious  and  hostile  adviser.  The  delightful 
harmony  which  would  naturally  result  from  this 
system  was  well  illustrated  by  the  very  first  case 
in  which  it  was  applied.  In  one  of  the  mes 
sages  which  Stanton  sent  to  the  House  of  Ee- 
presentatives,  after  he  had  been  reinstated  in  the 
War  Office,  he  said  :  "  After  the  action  of  the 
Senate  on  his  alleged  reason  for  my  suspension 
from  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War,  I  resumed 


332  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

the  duties  of  that  office  as  required  by  the  act  o£ 
Congress,  and  have  continued  to  discharge  them 
without  any  personal  or  written  communication 
with  the  President.  No  orders  have  been  issued 
from  this  department  in  the  name  of  the  Presi 
dent  with  my  knowledge." 

After  his  restoration,  Stanton  refrained  from 
attending  the  Cabinet  meetings.  He  conducted 
himself  as  if  he  were  the  superior  officer  of  the 
President.  This  system  would  have  afforded  the 
spectacle  of  seven  little  Presidents  sitting  about 
the  Cabinet  table,  if  they  saw  fit  to  attend,  with 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Constitution  present 
for  ornamental  purposes,  and  of  little  more  prac 
tical  consequence  than  is  the  Vice-President  in 
the  Senate.  Johnson  would  have  been  signally 
wanting  in  courage  as  well  as  patriotism  —  two 
qualities  which  he  undeniably  possessed  in  a 
degree  only  surpassed  by  his  egotism  —  if  he 
had  tamely  submitted.  He  played  the  part  of  a 
patriot.  He  did  what  Grant  or  Jackson  or  any 
other  of  our  great  Presidents  would  doubtless 
have  done  under  similar  circumstances,  and  on 
February  21, 1868,  he  issued  an  order  summarily 
removing  Stanton  from  the  position  of  Secretary 
of  War. 

Stanton  immediately  sent  a  "  message  "  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  communicating  the 
President's  order.  It  was  at  once  referred  to 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  333 

the  Committee  on  Reconstruction.  The  Presi 
dent's  enemies  were  not  slow  in  taking  advan 
tage  of  the  excitement  which  his  apparent  defi 
ance  and  disregard  of  the  tenure-of-office  act 
aroused.  On  the  very  next  day,  which  was  the 
birthday  of  Washington,  Stevens  reported  the  I 
matter  back  to  the  House,  with  a  resolution  de 
claring  "  that  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the 
United  States,  be  impeached  of  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors  in  office."  When  he  took  the 
floor,  merely  to  present  the  report,  the  excite 
ment  was  extraordinary,  and  the  Speaker  cau 
tioned  the  members  of  the  House  as  well  as  the 
crowded  galleries  against  demonstrations  of  ap 
proval  or  disapproval,  and  announced  that  he 
had  called  upon  the  police  to  aid  the  officers  of 
the  House  in  preserving  order.  In  the  heated 
debate  which  followed,  it  was  seen  that  the 
President  had  no  defenders  in  the  Republican 
party.1  Wilson,  who  had  so  boldly  and  effect 
ively  opposed  impeachment  on  the  grounds  upon 
which  it  was  urged  in  December,  now  supported 
the  resolution.  The  discussion  lacked  no  ele 
ment  of  excitement  which  partisanship  could 

1  The  prevailing-  opinion  in  the  Republican  party  was  doubt 
less  expressed  in  a  telegram,  which  was  read  in  the  debate, 
from  the  Governor  of  Illinois,  in  which  he  said  :  "  His  treason 
must  be  checked.  .  .  .  The  peace  of  the  country  is  not  to  be 
trifled  with  by  this  presumptuous  demagogue.  .  .  .  Millions 
of  loyal  hearts  are  panting  to  stand  by  the  stars  and  stripes." 


334  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

impart  to  it.  The  President  was  stigmatized 
as  a  traitor,  demagogue,  and  criminal.  He  was 
denounced  as  a  usurper,  and,  with  hardly  an 
ideal  consistency,  by  some  of  the  very  gentle 
men  who  had  been  industriously  voting  for 
vtwo  years  to  strip  his  office  of  its  constitutional 
powers. 

The  debate  was  closed  on  February  24  by 
Stevens,  in  a  speech  which  was  a  bitter  attack 
upon  the  President,  and  hardly  less  so  upon  Gen 
eral  Grant.  He  declared  that  "  the  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors,"  which  the  Constitution  made 
the  grounds  of  impeachment,  did  not  mean  in 
dictable  crimes  only.  Impeachment  was  "  a 
purely  political  proceeding," -— a  remedy  "for 
malfeasance  in  office,  and  to  prevent  the  contin 
uance  thereof."  "  The  people  desire  no  victim," 
said  he,  "and  they  will  endure  no  usurper." 
Johnson,  he  said,  had  taken  an  oath  faithfully 
to  execute  the  laws,  and  he  could  not  plead  ex 
emption  from  its  obligation  "  on  account  of  his 
condition  at  the  time  it  was  administered  to 
him."  He  had  violated  this  oath  when  he  first 
removed  Stanton  and  appointed  General  Grant. 
The  testimony  of  both  Johnson  and  Grant  made 
this  clear.  The  only  question  at  issue  was, 
whether  Grant  was  a  party  to  the  conspiracy, 
and  upon  that  point  Stevens  confessed  to  indif 
ference.  The  resolution  passed  by  a  vote  of  126 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  335 

to  47,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  founda 
tion  of  the  government  the  representatives  of 
the  people  had  invoked  the  great  remedy  of  im 
peachment  against  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
nation. 

Upon  the  motion  of  Mr.  Stevens,  a  committee 
of  two  was  appointed  to  appear  at  the  bar  of  the 
Senate  and  impeach  the  President.  He  was 
made  chairman  of  this  committee.  He  was  the 
first  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  when,  at  the 
December  session  of  1865,  he  had  forestalled 
the  President's  message  upon  reconstruction  by 
making,  in  advance  of  its  reception,  his  famous 
motion  with  reference  to  the  senators  and  re 
presentatives  from  the  Southern  States.  In  the 
long  and  bitter  struggle  with  the  Executive, 
Stevens  EacT  been  the  acknowledged  congres- 
sional  leader.  When  the  President  singled  him 
out  for  attack,  he  instinctively  recognized  in  him 
his  own  most  dangerous  foe.  It  was  most  fit 
ting,  therefore,  that  the  first  declaration  of  im 
peachment  made  to  the  Senate  should  be  made 
in  the  name  of  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
Thaddeus  Stevens. 

On  February  25,  he  and  his  associate  upon 
the  committee  went  before  the  Senate.  His 
health  was  at  the  time  hopelessly  broken ;  but  he 
gathered  strength  from  the  transcendent  occa 
sion,  and  the  hushed  and  expectant  audience 


336  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

drank  in  every  syllable  of  his  great  message. 
He  had  framed  it  tersely,  with  the  art  of  a  great 
lawyer,  and  every  word  flew  straight  to  its  mark. 
He  spoke  it  with  a  solemnity  and  force  that 
thrilled  the  listener.  "  I  doubt,"  said  Sumner, 
"  if  words  were  ever  delivered  with  more  effect. 
.  .  .  Who  can  forget  his  steady,  solemn  utter 
ance  of  this  great  arraignment?  The  words 
were  few,  but  they  will  sound  through  the  ages." 1 
He  was  conscious  that  he  was  performing  a 
great  public  act,  which  had  never  before  been 
performed  in  our  history,  and  his  manner  no  less 
than  his  words  fitly  betokened  it.  "  Mr.  Presi 
dent,"  said  Stevens,  "  in  obedience  to  the  order 
of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  we  appear 
before  you,  and  in  the  name  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  of  all  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  we  do  impeach  Andrew  Johnson, 
President  of  the  United  States,  of  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors  in  office ;  and  we  further  in 
form  the  Senate  that  the  House  of  Representa- 

1  The  Globe,  December  18,  1868.  The  conclusion  of  Sum- 
ner's  speech,  which  was  a  eulogy  upon  Stevens,  is  well  worth 
quoting.  "  Already  he  takes  his  place  among  illustrious 
names,  which  are  the  common  property  of  mankind.  I  see 
him  now,  as  I  have  so  often  seen  him  during  life.  His  ven 
erable  form  moves  slowly  and  with  uncertain  steps  ;  but  the 
gathered  strength  of  years  is  in  his  countenance  and  the  light 
of  victory  on  his  path.  Politician,  calculator,  time-server, 
stand  aside  !  A  hero  statesman  passes  to  his  reward." 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  337 

lives  will  in  due  time  exhibit  particular  articles 
of  impeachment  against  him,  and  make  good 
the  same;  and  in  their  name  we  demand  that 
the  Senate  take  order  for  the  appearance  of  the 
said  Andrew  Johnson  to  answer  said  impeach- 
ment." 

Stevens  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  commit 
tee  to  prepare  articles  of  impeachment,  and  also 
one  of  the  managers  to  present  the  case  to  the 
Senate.  He  would  probably  have  been  selected 
as  the  leading  manager,  but  his  physical  condi 
tion  rendered  him  absolutely  unable  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  that  position.  The  sickness  was 
upon  him  from  which  he  had  so  often  rallied, 
but  .it  was  now  destined  to  increase  until  he 
died.  He  was  not  able  to  perform  the  ordinary 
work  of  a  representative,  much  less  to  take 
charge  of  the  most  important  trial  of  the  cen 
tury.  His  mind,  however,  shone  brightly,  al 
though  fitfully,  and  his  dauntless  will  would  not 
let  him  yield.  When  he  was  too  weak  to  walk, 
he  was  carried  into  the  Senate  chamber ;  and 
when  he  was  too  weak  to  talk,  his  fellow-man 
agers  would  read  his  words. 

Among  the  managers  were  some  able  lawyers. 
Next  to  Stevens,  who  would  have  been  over 
matched  by  no  lawyer  on  either  side,  the  ablest 
advocate  among  them  was  Butler,  who,  although 
not  profound  in  his  knowledge  of  law,  had  few 


338  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

equals,  and  probably  no  superior,  at  the  bar  in 
readiness,  ingenuity,  and  the  ability  to  overwhelm 
an  antagonist  with  ridicule  and  abuse.  The 
trial,  however,  did  not  prove  an  advantageous 
field  for  the  display  of  his  peculiar  talents. 
Boutwell  was  a  sound  lawyer,  a  man  of  great 
industry,  and  probably  contributed  more  towards 
making  the  impeachment  successful  than  any 
other  of  the  managers.  Wilson,  also,  added 
strength  to  the  prosecution;  but  the  remaining 
managers,  although  able  men,  did  not  deserve  to 
take  high  rank  as  lawyers. 

The  advantage  in  legal  talent  lay  decidedly 
with  the  President.  Every  one  of  his  five  coun 
sel  was  an  experienced  and  able  advocate,  but 
the  two  men  who  stood  out  conspicuously  among 
them  were  Benjamin  R.  Curtis  and  William  M. 
Evarts.  Curtis  was  a  profound  lawyer,  who  had 
served  with  distinction  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  his  youth  had  taken 
almost  the  highest  rank  at  a  bar  of  which  Daniel 
Webster  and  Rufus  Choate  were  the  leaders. 
There  was  at  that  time  no  more  accomplished 
advocate  at  the  American  bar  than  Evarts.  He 
displayed  remarkable  sagacity  in  the  manage 
ment  of  a  trial,  was  ready  and  eloquent,  and  in 
a  bantering  wit  he  reminded  one  strongly  of 
Stevens  when  the  latter  was  in  his  more  genial 
moods.  The  charges  contained  in  the  articles 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  339 

might  pass  in  the  superheated  atmosphere,  and 
amid  the  clamor,  of  a  partisan  House,  but  they 
had  now  to  endure  the  scrutiny  of  great  and  hos 
tile  counsel. 

Such  an  array  as  appeared  for  the  President 
had  little  difficulty  in  laying  bare  the  substance 
of  the  articles,  and  in  showing  how  much  of  them 
had  legal  merit,  and  how  much  was  suited  merely 
to  a  "political  proceeding."  Indeed,  the  trial 
had  not  proceeded  far  before  the  practical  wis 
dom  of  Stevens's  "  political  proceeding  "  theory 
was  made  manifest  by  the  necessities  of  his  case. 
If  the  Senate  was  a  court,  bound  by  those  salu 
tary  rules  of  law  which  govern  in  judicial  tribu 
nals,  if  the  "  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,"  of 
which  the  President  must  be  proven  guilty,  were 
to  be  fit  companions  of  the  treason  and  bribery 
mentioned  with  them  in  the  Constitution,  then 
there  was  very  little  substance  in  the  charges  of 
the  House. 

The  article  based  upon  the  buffoonery  con 
tained  in  some  of  the  President's  speeches,  and 
his  undignified  attacks  upon  members  of  Con 
gress,  was  easily  ridiculed  out  of  court  by  Mr. 
Evarts ;  for  he  had  ready  to  his  hand  the  report 
of  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which  showed  how  Mr.  Manager  Butler  ,and 
Mr.  Manager  Bingham  had  abused  each  other 
in  the  presence  of  the  House  with  a  directness 


340  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

and  vigor  which,  by  comparison,  made  the  Presi 
dent's  efforts  at  scurrility  sink  into  insignifi 
cance. 

The  only  charge  that  seemed  to  possess  legal 
merit  grew  out  of  the  removal  of  Stanton  and 
the  alleged  violation  of  the  tenure-of-office  act, 
and  the  struggle  soon  centred  upon  the  articles 
in  which  that  was  involved.  That  charge,  as  a 
basis  of  impeachment,  failed  to  survive  the  great 
legal  argument  with  which  for  two  days  Curtis 
held  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  His  extraor 
dinary  speech  was  none  the  less  effective  because 
it  was  made  for  the  severe  practical  purpose 
of  influencing  the  judgment  of  the  judges,  and 
because,  after  he  had  presented  his  reasons,  he 
took  his  seat  without  invoking  the  past  or  poster 
ity,  or  making  any  elaborate  effort  at  a  perora 
tion. 

The  President  had  removed  Stanton  accord 
ing  to  the  construction  placed  upon  the  Consti 
tution  by  the  first  Congress,  of  which  one  third 
of  the  f  ramers  of  that  instrument  were  members. 
That  construction  had  been  followed  without  de 
viation  for  nearly  ninety  years,  and  until  Con 
gress  in  its  struggle  with  Johnson  attempted  to 
reverse  it  by  the  passage  of  the  tenure-of-office 
act.  It  has  since,  too,  been  reestablished ;  for 
so  soon  as  the  presidency  of  Johnson  ended,  the 
act  was  substantially  repealed,  so  far  as  it  was 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  341 

involved  in  the  controversy.1  In  determining 
what  were  his  constitutional  duties,  the  Presi 
dent  would  have  been  justified  in  following  the 
construction  established  by  Washington  and 
Madison,  and  sanctioned  by  uninterrupted  usage 
during  our  whole  history,  rather  than  the  con 
struction  imposed  by  his  enemies  for  the  pur 
pose  of  curtailing  his  powers.  But  his  defense 
stood  upon  even  safer  ground.  As  the  guardian 
and  trustee  of  the  powers  of  his  office,  the  pre 
servation  of  which  was  vital  to  the  whole  nation, 
could  he  have  done  less  than  regard  the  consti 
tutionality  of  the  act  as  doubtful,  and,  by  mak 
ing  a  test  case,  have  the  question  submitted  for 
decision  to  the  Supreme  Court?  Yet  the  per 
formance  of  this  obvious  duty  was  charged 
against  him  as  a  "high  crime  and  misdemean 
or,"  for  which  he  deserved  removal  from  office. 

But  admitting  that  the  President  was  bound 
to  accept  the  tenure-of -office  act  as  constitutional 
and  to  obey  its  provisions,  it  was  far  from  clear 
that  he  had  violated  it.  Cabinet  officers  were 
exempted  from  the  general  terms  of  the  act,  and 
it  was  provided  as  to  them  that  they  should  hold 
"  during  the  term  of  the  President  by  whom  they 

1  "  As  matter  of  fact,  a  Republican  Congress,  largely  com 
posed  of  the  same  members  who  had  enacted  the  law,  indi 
rectly  confessed  two  years  later  that  it  could  not  be  main 
tained."  Elaine's  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  vol.  ii.  p.  274. 


342  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

may  have  been  appointed,  and  for  one  month 
thereafter,  subject  to  removal  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate."  The  coun 
sel  for  the  President  strongly  took  the  position 
that  Stanton  did  not  come  under  the  provisions 
of  the  act,  and  he  could  be  removed  by  Johnson. 
He  had  been  appointed  by  Lincoln  during  his  first 
term,  and  if  Lincoln  were  living  he  could  remove 
this  Secretary  during  his  second  term.  But  the 
case  was  even  stronger  with  regard  to  Johnson, 
who  could  reasonably  claim  that  he  was  serving  a 
term  of  his  own,  during  which  Stanton  had  never 
been  appointed,  and  could  therefore  be  removed 
at  pleasure.  Was  the  President,  then,  to  be  im 
peached  because  he  put  this  rational  construc 
tion  upon  the  law,  —  a  construction,  too,  identical 
with  that  which  supporters  of  the  law  in  Con 
gress  had  put  upon  it,  as  shown  by  the  debates 
at  the  time  of  its  passage  ? 

I  have  referred  somewhat  in  detail  to  the  es 
sential  point  in  the  controversy,  because  the  arti 
cle  in  wMch  it  was  stated  with  the  greatest  force 
was  apparently  drawn  by  Stevens  himself.1  Al 
though  he  had  prudently  emphasized  the  politi 
cal  feature  of  impeachment,  in  view  of  the  scar- 

1  See  Stevens's  speech,  Supplement  to  Congressional  Globe, 
2d  session,  40th  Congress,  p.  320.  Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell 
also  informed  me  that  the  most  important  article  was  drawn 
by  Stevens.  The  statement  appears  in  newspapers  of  that  day. 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  343 

city  of  sounder  material  in  his  case,  he  devoted 
his  energies  to  proving  that  the  President  had 
committed  a  high  misdemeanor.  When  the 
original  articles  had  been  reported  to  the  House, 
he  urged  the  insertion  of  a  new  article.  On  the 
charges  as  they  then  stood,  he  declared  that  the 
President's  lawyers  would  secure  his  acquittal, 
unless  "  they  are  greener  than  I  was  in  any  case 
I  ever  undertook  before  the  court  of  quarter 
sessions."  An  additional  article  was  subse 
quently  adopted.  Upon  that  article  Stevens 
made  the  only  public  contribution  to  the  trial 
which  he  was  able  to  make. 

He  prepared  his  speech  with  great  care,  but 
it  was  not  so  strong  or  sustained  an  argument 
as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  making.  Its  vigor  was 
undoubtedly  somewhat  lessened  by  the  condition 
of  his  health;  yet  it  was  the  most  lawyer-like 
argument  made  on  his  side  of  the  cause,  and  was 
utterly  lacking  in  the  cheap  political  buncombe 
with  which  some  of  the  managers  disfigured 
their  addresses.  After  standing  for  a' few  min 
utes  his  strength  gave  out,  and  he  was  forced  to 
resume  his  chair.  He  spoke  for  nearly  half  an 
hour  from  his  seat,  when  his  voice  became  inau 
dible,  and  the  reading  of  his  speech  was  con 
cluded  by  General  Butler.  He  argued  that 
Johnson  was  serving  as  President  in  Lincoln's 
term,  and  that  therefore  Stanton's  case  came 


344  THADDEUS  STEVENS 

strictly  within  the  terms  of  the  proviso  of  the 
act,  as  Stanton  had  been  appointed  by  Lincoln. 
If  Stanton  was  not  covered  by  the  proviso,  then 
he  came  under  the  general  scope  of  the  act.  In 
either  alternative  it  would  require  the  consent 
of  the  Senate  to  remove  him. 

This  speech,  so  painfully  made,  represents  the 
only  part  which  Stevens  took  in  the  actual  trial 
of  the  case.  He  had  come  to  believe  that  the 
President  would  be  convicted.  "  He  will  be 
condemned,"  Stevens  predicted,  "and  his  sen 
tence  inflicted  without  turmoil,  tumult,  or  blood 
shed,  and  the  nation  will  continue  its  accustomed 
course  of  freedom  and  prosperity."  This  predic 
tion  appeared  well  founded.  In  a  total  member 
ship  of  fifty-four  senators,  there  were  only  eight 
Democrats,  and,  after  adding  to  them  those  sen 
ators  who  usually  supported  the  President,  the 
Republicans  outnumbered  the  combination  by 
nearly  four  to  one.  Only  two  thirds  were  neces 
sary  to  convict.  In  the  partisan  tempest  that 
was  then  raging,  it  did  not  seem  possible  that  a 
number  of  rthe  constant  Republican  senators, 
within  one  as  great  as  the  entire  Democratic 
membership,  would  be  willing  to  step  outside  of 
their  party  ranks  and  vote  for  acquittal. 

The  test  came  upon  the  strongest  article,  which 
was  the  one  advocated  by  Stevens.  The  friends 
of  impeachment  secured  a  vote  ordering  the 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  345 

eleventh  article  to  be  read  first.  When  the  vote 
was  taken,  it  was  found  that  the  President 
was  supported  by  seven  Republican  senators. 
Thirty-five  senators  declared  for  conviction,  and 
nineteen  for  acquittal ; l  and  by  the  narrowest 
possible  margin  the  President  had  escaped  con 
viction.  A  vote  was  taken  upon  two  other  arti 
cles,  but  it  was  found  that  the  prosecution  had 
mustered  its  full  strength  upon  the  eleventh 
article,  and  the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  court  of 
impeachment,  adjourned  without  day. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
the  verdict.  Had  the  extreme  political  theory 
of  the  proceeding  prevailed,  which  was  most 
strongly  advocated  by  Charles  Sumner,  the  bal 
ance  established  by  the  Constitution  would  have 
been  completely  destroyed.  When  a  majority 
of  the  House  and  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  hap 
pened  at  any  time  to  differ  politically  from  the 
President,  it  would  be  in  their  power  absolutely 
to  control  the  government  of  the  country,  and 
the  functions  of  the  President  as  an  independent 
officer  would  be  obliterated.  It  was  a  fortunate 
circumstance  that  the  Senate  contained  great 
lawyers  like  Trumbull  and  Fessenden,  who  were 
wise  enough  to  judge  rightly,  and  great  enough 

1  Although  few  in  number  the  Democratic  minority  was  far 
from  deficient  in  ability..  Its  most  distinguished  member,  Mr. 
Reverdy  Johnson,  easily  took  rank  among  the  three  or  four 
ablest  senators. 


346  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

to  cast  aside  partisanship  upon  a  question  of 
such  transcendent  importance,  and  consult  the 
interests  instead  of  the  passions  of  the  people. 

The  impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson  is  in 
evitably  contrasted  with  the  impeachment  of 
Warren  Hastings,  and  the  contrast  is  certainly 
great.  The  celebrated  English  trial  was  almost 
wholly  spectacular,  and  was  a  fit  subject  for  the 
fine  writing  Macaulay  bestowed  upon  it  half  a 
century  afterwards.  The  production  of  so  im 
posing  a  spectacle  appears  to  have  absorbed  all 
the  energies  of  the  British  constitution,  and  to 
have  paralyzed  for  the  time  the  Anglo-Saxon 
talent  for  the  administration  of  justice.  Each 
trial  partook  much  of  the  times,  and  the  form 
of  government,  under  which  it  occurred.  The 
one  was  apparently  conducted  for  ceremonial 
purposes,  the  other  for  practical  effect.  The 
charges  against  Hastings  were  concealed  under 
five  hundred  pages  of  verbiage;  those  against 
the  American  President  covered  less  than  two 
pages  of  the  "  Congressional  Globe."  The 
trial  of  the  former  began  in  1788  and  ended  in 
1795.  During  this  interval  one  third  of  the  one 
hundred  and  sixty  lords  who  attended  the  open 
ing  of  the  case  had  died  ;  and  when  the  tribunal 
finally  met  to  record  the  judgment  of  posterity 
upon  the  evidence,  the  number  of  judges  who 
retained  sufficient  interest  to  vote  upon  the 


THE  IMPEACHMENT  347 

charges  had  dwindled  to  twenty-nine.  In  the 
American  trial,  less  than  sixty  days  elapsed  from 
the  time  when  the  case  of  the  House  was  opened 
until  the  Senate  dissolved  as  a  court  of  impeach 
ment.  During  that  period  the  interest  had  gone 
on  increasing  not  merely  in  the  Senate  chamber, 
but  in  every  portion  of  the  country  whose  chief 
ruler  was  on  trial,  and  at  the  end  every  one  of 
the  judges  recorded  his  verdict. 

The  trial  of  Hastings  was  made  memorable 
by  the  great  parliamentary  orators  who  repre 
sented  the  Commons.  But  its  spectacular  char 
acter  is  not  wanting  here.  The  eloquence  of 
Burke,  Sheridan,  and  Fox  would  undoubtedly 
decorate  any  historic  occasion,  but  not  one  of 
them  ever  took  high  rank  as  a  lawyer.  They 
were  admirably  fitted  to  set  in  motion  the  smell 
ing-bottles  in  the  gallery,  as  Macaulay  records, 
and  to  cause  some  hysterical  lady  to  be  carried 
out  in  a  fit;  but  they  were  not  the  men  one 
would  choose  to  conduct  a  case  that  was  to  be 
governed  by  the  rules  of  evidence  received  in 
the  law  courts.  For  a  good  deal  of  their  speak 
ing,  too,  we  must  take  the  account  that  tradition 
gives  us.  Modern  methods  of  reporting  were 
then  unknown.  But  the  lawyers  who  conducted 
the  Johnson  trial  were  not  permitted  to  write 
out  the  polished  periods  of  their  speeches,  a 
year  after  they  had  been  delivered,  in  order  to 


348  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

thrill  posterity.  What  was  said  was  taken  down 
each  day  by  stenographers,  and  appeared  in  cold 
type  the  next  morning ;  and  the  report  presents 
to  us  the  accurate  picture  of  great  lawyers  con 
tending  in  a  great  cause,  and  bringing  to  bear 
upon  the  minds  of  the  judges,  according  to  the 
rules  of  law,  every  consideration  that  could  pro 
perly  influence  their  verdict.  The  impeachment 
of  Hastings  enriched  literature,  and  will  stand 
as  a  splendid  historical  pageant ;  but  it  signally 
failed  in  its  great  and  essential  purpose.  The 
proceeding  against  Johnson  was  severely  and 
successfully  devoted  to  the  one  object  which  gave 
it  an  excuse  for  being,  the  trial  of  a  President 
charged  with  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 
The  American  impeachment  trial  was  majestic 
in  its  simplicity  ;  it  was  eloquent  in  its  direct 
purpose ;  it  was  too  great  for  the  tinsel  and 
trappings  of  ceremony;  and  in  the  example 
which  it  gave  to  mankind  of  the  peaceful  at 
tempt  to  remove  the  chief  ruler  of  the  greatest 
of  republics,  and  of  quiet  and  orderly  submis 
sion  to  the  result,  it  was  wholly  in  line  with 
those  other  wonderful  practical  contributions 
which  that  nation  has  made  to  the  progress  of 
the  world. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

LAST   DAYS 

STEVENS  was  profoundly  disappointed  at  the 
acquittal  of  the  President,  and  for  a  time  he 
appears  to  have  taken  a  sombre  view  of  the 
future  of  the  country.  But  he  soon  regained 
his  accustomed  gayety  of  spirit.  He  attended 
the  sessions  of  the  House  when  he  was  able  to 
do  so,  and,  although  his  health  was  constantly 
growing  feebler  and  his  strength  was  nearly 
exhausted,  he  took  a  considerable  part  in  the 
routine  proceedings.  On  July  7,  but  little  more 
than  a  month  before  his  death,  he  introduced 
five  additional  articles  of  impeachment,  appar 
ently  for  the  chief  purpose  of  enabling  him  to 
review,  in  one  of  the  longest  speeches  of  his 
later  years,  the  law  of  impeachments,  and  to  ex 
press  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  Senate  and  the 
rulings  of  the  chief  justice. 

On  July  16,  he  introduced  a  resolution  look 
ing  to  the  acquirement  of  a  naval  station  and 
depot  in  the  West  Indies.  He  supported  it 
with  a  brief  speech,  in  the  course  of  which  he 


350  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

paid  a  striking  tribute  to  the  sovereigns  of  Rus 
sia.  "I  look  upon  the  rulers,"  said  he,  "who 
have  held  the  destinies  of  that  great  nation  since 
the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  as  the  most  remark 
able  race  of  sovereigns  that  ever  sat  upon  a 
throne.  The  later  members  of  that  dynasty,  for 
wisdom  and  justice,  are  quite  equal  to  any  of 
their  predecessors.  They  had  a  very  difficult 
nation  to  construct  into  "  an  empire  composed  of 
Cossacks,  Calmucks,  and  many  millions  of  serfs. 
The  Czar  had  accomplished  a  great  revolution 
without  civil  war,  and  "  with  patience,  courage, 
and  uncommon  wisdom  "  he  had  "  made  every 
man  within  his  empire  free." 

On  July  27,  Congress  took  a  recess  until  Sep 
tember.  Stevens  was  too  weak  and  worn  to 
stand  the  trip  to  Lancaster,  and  he  remained  in 
Washington,  with  the  hope  of  gaining  strength 
for  the  journey.  His  vitality  had  been  so  great 
that  it  had  more  than  once  enabled  him,  after 
a  little  rest,  to  rally  from  the  weakness  which 
his  tremendous  labors  in  Congress  had  brought 
upon  him.  At  last,  however,  the  hopes  of  him 
self  and  his  friends  were  destined  not  to  be  real 
ized.  His  cheerfulness  remained  with  him,  and 
his  courage,  which  no  misfortune  could  daunt. 
"  I  am  going  to  die,  like  Nicanor,  in  harness," 
he  said  to  a  friend  within  a  few  months  of  his 
death  ;  "  I  mean  to  die  hurrahing."  This  was  a 


LAST  DAYS  351 

favorite  expression  with  him,  and  the  meaning 
which  he  gave  to  it  was  very  likely  original  with 
himself.  He  intended  to  keep  up  the  fight  until 
the  last.  "  You  have  changed  my  medicine  ?  " 
he  said  to  the  physician  a  few  days  before  he 
died.  "  Yes,"  replied  the  doctor.  "  Well,"  re 
plied  Stevens  grimly,  and  with  a  smile,  "this  is 
a  square  fight."  He  had  about  him,  to  care  for 
his  wants,  his  two  nephews,  one  of  whom  bore 
his  name,  a  few  family  friends,  and  two  Sisters 
of  Charity,  who  had  watched  over  him  in  his 
former  illness.  On  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday, 
August  11,  he  was  very  weak.  He  could  talk 
but  little,  but  that  little  was  almost  wholly  upon 
public  matters.  He  said  that  Seward  had  done 
"very  well  recently  in  relation  to  our  foreign 
affairs.  His  purchase  of  Alaska  was  the  big 
gest  thing  in  his  life,  and,  if  he  could  have  pur 
chased  Samana,  it  would  have  been  the  crowning 
event  of  his  whole  career."  He  expressed  the 
opinion  that  Evarts,  who  was  then  the  attorney- 
general,  was  "  not  only  a  sound  lawyer  but  a 
statesman,"  and  that  he  would  advise  Johnson 
"  so  to  administer  the  laws  as  to  render  unneces 
sary  a  meeting  of  Congress  in  September.  If 
he  does,  I  shall  feel  prouder  than  ever  that  I 
urs;ed  his  confirmation."  He  talked  with  his 

O 

nephew,  who  had  just  arrived  from  Pennsylva 
nia,  about  his  iron  furnace  and  also  gave  him 


352  THADDEUS   STEVENS 

some  very  clear  instructions  about  a  lawsuit  in 
which  he  was  engaged. 

Two  colored  clergymen  called,  and  asked 
leave  to  see  Stevens  and  pray  with  him.  He 
ordered  them  to  be  admitted;  and  when  they 
had  come  to  his  bedside,  he  turned  and  held 
out  his  hand  to  one  of  them.  They  sang  a 
hymn  and  prayed.  During  the  prayer  he  re 
sponded  twice,  but  could  not  be  understood. 
Soon  afterwards  the  Sisters  of  Charity  prayed, 
and  he  seemed  deeply  affected.  The  doctor  told 
him  that  he  was  dying.  He  made  a  motion  with 
his  head,  but  no  other  reply.  One  of  the  Sisters 
asked  leave  to  baptize  him,  and  it  was  granted, 
but  whether  by  Stevens  or  his  nephew  is  not 
clear.  She  performed  the  ceremony  with  a  glass 
of  water,  a  portion  of  which  she  poured  upon  his 
forehead.  It  was  then  within  ten  minutes  of 
midnight,  and  the  end  was  to  come  before  the 
beginning  of  the  new  day.  He  lay  motionless 
for  a  few  minutes,  then  opened  his  eyes,  took 
one  look,  placidly  closed  them,  and,  without  a 
struggle,  the  great  commoner  had  ceased  to 
breathe. 

Stevens  died  on  Tuesday,  August  11,  1868. 
The  Republican  primaries  in  Lancaster  County 
for  the  nomination  of  the  member  of  Congress 
had  been  called  for  the  Saturday  of  that  week. 
No  candidates  dared  to  show  themselves  while 


LAST  DAYS  353 

the  body  of  the  representative  whom  the  people 
loved  was  yet  unburied.  Although  they  knew 
that  he  was  no  more,  a  common  impulse  inspired 
them ;  and  when  the  votes  were  counted,  it  was 
found  that  all  had  been  cast  for  Thaddeus 
Stevens. 

His  body  was  buried  in  a  humble  cemetery 
in  the  city  of  his  home.  His  choice  of  the  spot 
grew  out  of  his  unswerving  devotion  to  the 
cause  which  lay  close  to  his  heart  during  every 
moment  of  his  life.  Upon  the  monument  which 
has  been  reared  may  be  read  the  following  in 
scription,  prepared  by  himself :  "  I  repose  in 
this  quiet  and  secluded  spot,  not  from  any  natu 
ral  preference  for  solitude,  but,  finding  other 
cemeteries  limited  as  to  race  by  charter  rules,  I 
have  chosen  this,  that  I  might  illustrate  in  my 
death  the  principles  which  I  advocated  through 
a  long  life,  [the]  Equality  of  Man  before  his 
Creator." 

His  epitaph  well  indicates  his  chief  distinction. 
A  truer  democrat  never  breathed.  Equality  was 
the  animating  principle  of  his  life.  He  deemed 
no  man  so  poor  or  friendless  as  to  be  beneath 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  and  none  so 
powerful  as  to  rise  above  their  sway.  Privilege 
never  had  a  more  powerful  nor  a  more  consistent 
foe. 


INDEX 


ABOLITIONISTS,  convention  to  op 
pose,  meets  at  Harrisburg,  48-51  ; 
value  of  their  work,  133;  their 
narrrowness,  arrogance,  and  vio 
lence,  133 ;  really  fail  to  impress 
North,  133,  134. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  proposes 
constitutional  amendment  to  pre 
vent  abolition  of  slavery,  122. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  his  conspicu- 
ousness  in  House  of  Representa 
tives,  66. 

Adams,  Professor,  at  Dartmouth 
College,  13. 

Alabama,  contract  labor  laws  in, 
against  negroes,  252;  carpet-bag 
government  in,  301. 

Alexander  II.  of  Russia,  eulogized 
by  Stevens,  350. 

Allen,  Charles,  in  House  in  1849, 
69  ;  supports  Stevens  for  speaker, 
86. 

Anderson,  Thomas  L.,  in  Congress 
in  1859,  ridiculed  by  Stevens,  99. 

Anti-Masonic  party,  its  origin,  29; 
organized  in  New  York  and  Penn 
sylvania,  29,  30;  its  failure  as  a 
national  party,  30 ;  attempts  to 
crush  Masons  in  Pennsylvania  le 
gislature,  31-33,  34,  46;  carries 
Pennsylvania  for  Rituer  in  1835, 
46. 

Ashley,  John  M.,  proposes  thir 
teenth  amendment,  225. 

Ashmun,  George,  in  House,  in  1849, 
69. 

BANK  OP  UNITED  STATES,  chartered 
by  Pennsylvania,  47  ;  its  branches 


prohibited  in  Democratic  States, 
47. 

Bar,  conditions  of  success  at,  in 
1820,  26. 

Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  forces  Buchanan 
to  alter  his  policy  in  1861,  118, 
119  ;  made  secretary  of  state,  119  ; 
on  Stevens' s  legal  ability,  202. 

Bingham,  John  A.,  on  Committee 
on  Reconstruction,  259;  wishes 
to  join  amnesty  with  reconstruc 
tion,  290;  abuses  Butler  in  de 
bate,  339. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  his  theory  of 
status  of  Confederate  States  con 
troverted  by  Stevens,  236 ;  at 
tacks  Fremont,  312  ;  retort  of  Ste 
vens  to,  313. 

Border  States,  save  Republican 
party  in  1862,  221. 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  on  Committee 
on  Reconstruction,  259  ;  a  man 
ager  of  Johnson  impeachment, 
338. 

Breckenridge,  John  C.,  candidate  of 
slavery  extensionists  in  1860,  113. 

Brooks,  James,  raises  question  of 
status  of  reconstructed  States, 
257  ;  retorts  of  Stevens  to,  258, 
314,  315. 

Buchanan,  James,  advises  Stevens 
in  1827  to  support  Jackson,  28; 
his  unfitness  to  meet  the  crisis  in 
1861,  116 ;  his  message  on  seces 
sion,  116,  117  ;  forced  to  alter  his 
policy,  118  ;  sends  message  threat 
ening  resistance  to  secession,  119  ; 
attacked  by  Stevens,  124-126. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  on  Stevens's  rhe- 


356 


INDEX 


torical  accuracy,  16 ;  on  his  un 
questioned  leadership  of  the 
House  in  1861,  138 ;  urges  combi 
nation  of  reconstruction  with  am 
nesty,  290 ;  aids  Stevens  to  force 
through  Reconstruction  Act,  292  ; 
on  Stevens's  ability  in  debate, 
320,  321. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  a  manager  of 
Johnson  impeachment,  337;  abuses 
Bingham  in  debate,  339;  reads 
Stevens's  speech,  343. 

CALIFORNIA,  settlement  and  organ 
ization  of,  72,  73 ;  asks  admission 
as  a  free  State,  73. 

Cameron,  Simon,  supported  by  Ste 
vens  in  Republican  National  Con 
vention  of  1860,  112 ;  withdraws, 
then  reenters  contest  for  seat  in 
Lincoln's  cabinet,  136 ;  witty  re 
mark  of  Stevens  upon,  311,  312. 

Cass,  Lewis,  resigns  from  Buch 
anan's  cabinet,  118. 

Champneys,  Benjamin,  displaced  by 
Stevens  from  leadership  of  Lan 
caster  bar,  59. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  reduces  Lincoln's 
estimates  of  war  expenses,  141; 
struggles  to  avoid  a  deficit,  142 ; 
his  error  in  not  recommending 
taxation,  143;  estimate  of  his 
character  and  ability  as  a  finan 
cier,  143,  144 ;  attempts  to  bor 
row  in  1861,  153  ;  aided  by  banks, 
154  ;  urged  by  banks  not  to  dam 
age  their  coin  reserves,  155 ;  insists 
on  paying  government  creditors 
in  specie,  156 ;  reports  failure  of 
revenue  law,  158 ;  wishes  to  es 
cape  responsibility  of  legal-tender 
issue,  170;  urges  national  bank 
ing  system,  174  ;  expects  a  short 
war,  175 ;  does  not  at  first  recom 
mend  taxation,  175 ;  slow  to  recog 
nize  its  necessity,  176  ;  hesitates 
to  ask  for  increased  taxes,  177 ; 
recommends  law  restricting  gold 
transactions,  208. 

Chiriqui    Improvement    Company, 


corrupt  appropriation  for,  de 
feated  by  Stevens,  107-109. 

Clay,  Henry,  asks  Stevens's  gup- 
port  hi  1844,  62 ;  introduces  Com 
promise  measures  of  1850,  74 ;  at 
tacked  by  Stevens,  84  ;  compared 
with  Stevens  as  a  parliamentary 
leader,  322. 

Clemens,  Jeremiah,  retort  of  Ste 
vens  to,  103. 

Cobb,  Howell,  in  House  in  1849,  69 ; 
Democratic  candidate  for  speaker, 
70,  71 ;  declares  secession  irrevo 
cable,  129. 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  opposes  direct  tax 
upon  land,  147. 

Compromise  of  1850,  introduced  by 
Clay,  74, 75  ;  opposed  by  all  sides, 
75  ;  defeated  in  form  of  Omnibus 
bill,  85  ;  finally  passed,  85,  86  ;  its 
effect,  86. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  opposes  tax  on 
land,  147  ;  opposes  issue  of  legal- 
tender  notes,  160;  his  financial 
scheme  condemned  by  Stevens, 
165  ;  introduces  resolutions  of  in 
quiry  as  to  responsibility  for  de 
feat  at  Ball's  Bluff,  192,  193  ;  in 
troduces  resolution  to  aid  States 
in  compensated  emancipation,  216; 
on  Committee  on  Reconstruction, 
259;  sarcasm  of  Stevens  upon, 
314. 

Constitution,  in  relation  to  fugitive 
slaves,  20,  74 ;  tends  to  prevent 
development  of  statesmen,  69  ;  in 
relation  to  slavery,  76-85;  atti 
tude  of  Republican  party  toward, 
104 ;  Buchanan's  theory  of  seces 
sion  under,  117;  proposals  to 
amend,  to  prevent  secession,  121- 
123 ;  its  relation  to  legal  tender, 
163-165  ;  strained  by  North  dur 
ing  civil  war,  187  ;  considered  as 
set  aside  in  South,  by  Stevens, 
188,  191,  200-202,  229;  in  case  of 
West  Virginia,  188-191 ;  in  regard 
to  military  power  of  President, 
193;  in  relation  to  suspension  of 
habeas  corpus,  J94,  195;  in  rela- 


INDEX 


357 


tion  to  draft,  196  •,  amended  by 
abolition  of  slavery,  226 ;  question 
of  its  relation  to  reconstruction, 
229-240,  261,  262,  266;  amend 
ments  to,  proposed,  260 ;  four 
teenth  amendment  to,  introduced 
by  Stevens,  271,  272;  fourteenth 
amendment  of,  rendered  ineffica 
cious  to  guarantee  negro  suffrage, 
295,  296  ;  necessarily  neglected  in 
reconstruction,  297,  298 ;  in  rela 
tion  to  tenure-of-office  act,  328, 
331,  332,  340-342;  in  relation  to 
impeachment,  334,  339,  345, 

Corwin,  Thomas,  suggests  a  com 
promise  in  1860  preventing  aboli 
tion  in  the  district  of  Columbia, 
121  ;  derided  by  Stevens,  126. 

Crittenden,  J.  J.,  introduces  reso 
lution  declaring  object  of  war, 
148. 

Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  counsel  for 
Johnson  in  impeachment  case, 
338  ;  his  argument,  310. 

DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE,  its  early  pro 
sperity,  13  ;  its  faculty,  13,  14 ; 
course  of  study  at,  14,  15;  Ste- 
vens's  connection  with,  15,  16. 

Dawes,  H.  L.,  describes  Stevens's 
speech  on  slavery  in  1861,  127, 
128 ;  on  legal  fictions  in  creation 
of  West  Virginia,  189 ;  on  Ste 
vens's  personal  appearance,  318 ; 
on  his  ability  as  a  debater,  320. 

Davis,  Henry  Winter,  introduces 
Congressional  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion,  234 ;  his  sensitiveness  ridi 
culed  by  Stevens,  316,  317. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  elected  President 
of  Confederate  States,  129,  130. 

Democratic  party,  in  Pennsylvania, 
urges  governor  not  to  prevent  re 
peal  of  free-school  act,  36 ;  in 
other  States,  prohibits  branches  of 
United  States  Bank,  47  ;  controls 
Pennsylvania  constitutional  con 
vention,  47  ;  its  contest  with 
Whigs  for  control  of  Pennsylvania 
legislature,  51-53;  attacks  state 


arsenal,  52  ;  defied  by  Stevens  as 
rebels,  53;  defeats  Whigs  in 
"  Buckshot  War,"  53  ;  expels  Ste 
vens  from  House,  54 ;  in  Con 
gress  in  1850,  opposes  admission 
of  California,  75  ;  considered  de 
stroyed  by  Stevens,  87 ;  elects 
Pierce  in  1852,  88  ;  defied  by  Ste 
vens,  103,  104 ;  broken  up  by 
quarrel  of  Douglas  and  Buchanan, 
110,  111 ;  feeble  in  Congress  after 
1861,  138  ;  denounced  by  Stevens 
for  hindering  war,  196,  197;  de 
nounces  war  as  for  abolition,  218, 
219 ;  makes  great  gains  in  Con 
gress,  220  ;  hopes  to  defeat  Lin 
coln  for  reelection,  224 ;  badly 
beaten  in  election  of  1864,  226 ; 
demands  admission  of  members 
from  reconstructed  States,  256, 
257  ;  accused  by  Stevens  of  for 
ging  Johnson's  speeches,  268 ; 
beaten  in  elections  of  1866,  284. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  opposes  Buch 
anan's  Kansas  policy,  110,  113; 
hated  by  South,  111 ;  his  power 
as  a  speaker,  111 ;  his  party  op 
poses  extension  of  slavery,  113. 

Dred  Scott  decision,  its  effect,  102. 

Dwight,  Timothy,  on  entrance  re 
quirements  for  Yale  College,  14. 

ELECTION  of  1860,  its  significance,  a 
triumph  of  slavery  restriction, 
113,  114. 

England,  question  of  its  neutrality 
discussed  by  Stevens,  184,  185. 

Evarts,  William  M.,  counsel  for 
Johnson  in  impeachment  case, 
338  ;  ridicules  articles  of  impeach 
ment,  339 ;  praised  by  Stevens, 
351. 

FARRAOUT,  ADMIRAL  DAVID  G.,  ac 
companies  Johnson  "  round  the 
circle,"  281. 

Fessenden,  William  P.,  reports  plan 
of  reconstruction  to  Senate,  273 ; 
votes  against  impeachment  of 
Johnson,  345. 


358 


INDEX 


Financial  history,  deficit  after  panic 
of  1857,  104 ;  tariff  act  of  1860, 
105,  106  ;  war  estimates  of  Lin 
coln  and  Chase,  139-141  ;  difficul 
ties  of  increasing  revenue,  141  ; 
amount  of  new  revenue  necessary 
to  carry  on  war  and  meet  deficit, 
142,  143  ;  position  of  Chase  in  his 
tory  of  treasury,  143,  144 ;  pas 
sage  of  loan  bill,  144  ;  preparation 
and  passage  of  revenue  bill,  145- 
148 ;  details  of  taxation,  146, 147  ; 
decline  of  government  credit,  153  ; 
loan  of  1861  aided  by  patriotic 
bankers,  153-155 ;  refusal  of 
Chase  to  permit  banks  to  safe 
guard  their  coin  reserves,  155, 
156 ;  resulting  suspension  by 
banks  in  December,  156  ;  error  of 
Chase  in  thus  hastening  collapse 
of  banks,  157  ;  failure  of  revenue 
law  to  meet  expectations,  158  ;  es 
timates  for  1863,  158,  159  ;  first 
issue  of  legal-tender  notes,  160- 

167  ;  renewed  issue  called  for,  167  ; 
Stevens's      criticism     of    Senate 
amendments  to   legal-tender  act, 

168  ;  discussion  of  wisdom  of  issue 
of  legal  tender,   169,   170;  their 
issue  a  result   of  necessity,  171  > 
their   evil   effects  seen  since  the 
war,  172,  173  ;  summary  of  loans 
passed,  174  ;  national  banks  and 
their    success,    174,    175 ;    reluc 
tance  of  Chase  to  recommend  tax 
ation,    175;    opposition    in    Con 
gress  to  any  increase  in    taxes, 
175,  176 ;  policy  of  Chase  to  tax 
for  merely  ordinary  expenditures 
and  interest  on  debt,  176,   177 ; 
adoption  by  Congress  of  extensive 
internal    taxes,    178 ;    details    of 
Stevens's    system,     178-180 ;    in 
spite  of  legal  tender,  management  j 
of  war  finances    a  success,    180,  | 
181  ;  expenses  denounced  by  Ste 
vens  as  excessive,  186  ;  payment 
of    interest    in   coin  opposed  by  I 
Stevens,  204-206  ;    laws  restrict-  ! 
ing  operations  in  gold,  208. 


Florida,  vagrant  and  labor  contract 
laws  in,  after  war,  252,  253 ;  car 
pet-bag  government  in,  300. 

Free  -  soilers,  prevent  election  of 
Winthrop  as  speaker  of  House, 
70,  71 ;  vote  for  Stevens,  71,  86  ; 
their  policy  defended,  71,  72. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  attacked  by 
Blair,  312 ;  defended  by  Stevens, 
313. 

Fugitive  slaves,  question  of  their 
recapture  under  the  Constitution, 
20,  21,  74  ;  zeal  of  Stevens  in  de 
fending,  26  ;  irritation  over,  be 
tween  South  and  North,  74  ;  pro 
posed  law  concerning,  denounced 
by  Stevens,  75;  law  to  enforce 
return  of,  passed,  85. 

GEORGIA,  follows  South  Carolina  in 
secession,  115  ;  "  carpet-bag  " 
government  in,  301. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  of  Maine,  in  House 
in  1849,  69. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  in  House  in 
1849,  70  ;  supports  Stevens  for 
speaker,  86. 

Gilbert,  Amos,  describes  Stevens's 
law  studies,  21. 

Gorsuch,  Edward,  killed  in  attempt 
ing  to  recapture  fugitive  slave,  90. 

Grant,  General  Ulysses  S.,  takes 
Vicksburg,  224  ;  with  Johnson  on 
his  tour  in  1806,  281 ;  appointed 
Secretary  of  War  by  Johnson, 
330 ;  denounced  by  Stevens,  334. 

Greeley,  Horace,  on  Chase's  integ 
rity,  143. 

Grow,  Galusha  A.,  Republican  can 
didate  for  speaker  of  House,  97; 
chosen  speaker  in  1861,  138. 

HALLECK,  GENERAL  H.  W.,  his  order 
sending  back  fugitive  slaves  at 
tacked  by  Stevens,  216. 

Hanway,  Castner,  defended  by  Ste 
vens  in  fugitive-slave  case,  90,  91. 

Harris,  Isham  G.,  in  House  in  1849, 
70. 

Harrison,  William  H.,  said  to  have 


INDEX 


359 


offered  Stevens  a  seat  in  his  cabi 
net,  57  ;  nominated  by  Stevens's 
influence,  57. 

Hastings,  Warren,  his  impeachment 
contrasted  with  that  of  Johnson, 
346-348. 

Hibbard,  Harry,  in  House  in  1849, 
69. 

Hood,  Alexander,  on  Steveus's  in 
debtedness,  58. 

House  of  Commons,  better  fitted  to 
develop  statesmanship  than  Con 
gress,  68,  69  ;  its  superiority  in 
settling  contested  election  cases, 
106. 

House  of  Representatives,  its  char 
acter  and  organization  in  1849, 
67 ;  fails  to  develop  statesman 
ship  as  compared  with  House  of 
Commons,  68,  69 ;  membership 
of,  in  1849,  69;  struggle  for  or 
ganization  of,  70,  71  ;  passes  com 
promise  of  1850,  85  :  organized 
peaceably  in  1850,  86  ;  retirement 
of  Stevens  from,  89  ;  return  of 
Stevens  to,  94-96  ;  contest  over 
organization  of,  96-104 ;  violent 
scenes  in,  97,  98,  101 ;  its  man 
agement  of  contested  election 
cases,  106,  107  ;  fails  to  pass  reso 
lution  of  Stevens  suggesting  that 
Buchanan  prepare  to  defend  Sum- 
ter,  119,  120  ;  appoints  special 
committee  on  state  of  country, 
120,  121 ;  committee  of,  discusses 
compromise  measures,  121-123 ; 
violent  scenes  in,  during  Stevens's 
speech  against  compromise,  127, 
128;  passes  constitutional  amend 
ment  to  prevent  abolition  of  slav 
ery,  129  ;  organizes  quickly  in 
1861,  138 ;  led  by  Stevens,  138  ; 
receives  Lincoln's  war  message 
with  enthusiasm,  140  ;  passes 
loan  and  appropriation  bills,  144, 
145 ;  debates  direct  tax  on  land, 
147,  148 ;  passes  revenue  bill, 
147  ;  passes  Crittenden  resolu 
tion,  148 ;  later  lays  it  on  table, 
149 ;  rejects  confiscation  bill, 


later  passes  it,  150 ;  debate  in,  ou 
legal-tender  issue,  160-167  ;  passes 
legal  -  tender  act,  167  ;  passes 
series  of  loan  acts,  174,  175  ; 
passes  national  banking  act,  174  ; 
unwilling  to  impose  taxes,  176; 
later  passes  elaborate  tax  laws, 
178-180;  debates  resolution  call 
ing  on  secretary  of  war  to  in 
vestigate  responsibility  for  defeat 
at  Ball's  Bluff,  192-194  ;  debates 
and  passes  bill  indemnifying  Pre 
sident  for  suspending  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  194,  195  ;  passes 
conscription  act,  195,  198;  passes 
confiscation  act,  199;  passes  Pa 
cific  Railroad  bills,  203 ;  led  by 
Stevens  to  reject  sham  military 
improvements  of  rivers,  204  ; 
passes,  and  fifteen  days  later  re 
peals,  act  restricting  operations 
in  gold,  208  ;  complete  leadership 
of  Stevens  in,  208,  209 ;  passes 
resolution  offering  to  aid  in  com 
pensated  emancipation,  216  ; 
passes  bill  to  abolish  slavery  in 
District,  217  ;  passes  bill  to  pro 
hibit  in  Territories,  217;  passes 
bill  to  arm  negroes,  223 ;  fails  to 
pass  thirteenth  amendment,  225  ; 
later  yields  to  popular  will,  226  ; 
defeats  Vallandigham's  resolu 
tions  on  object  of  war,  230  ; 
excludes  members  from  recon 
structed  States,  256-258  ;  votes 
to  appoint  a  joint  committee  on 
reconstruction,  258 ;  debates  in, 
on  reconstruction,  261-270;  fails 
to  pass  Freedmen's  Bureau  bill 
over  veto,  270 ;  passes  second 
freedmen's  bill  and  other  bills 
over  veto,  271  ;  becomes  more 
radical,  286  ;  considers  bill  to  re 
peal  statute  of  limitations  con 
cerning  treason,  287  ;  considers 
reconstruction  bill,  288-291  ; 
forces  Senate  to  yield,  291  ;  passes 
bill  over  veto,  292 ;  threatens  to 
impeach  Johnson,  323  ;  passes 
statute  obliging  next  Congress  to 


360 


INDEX 


assemble  March  4,  1867,  324  ; 
considers  bill  to  enforce  confisca 
tion  act,  324,  325  ;  rejects  plan 
to  impeach  Johnson,  327,  328 ; 
passes  tenure-of-office  act,  328  ; 
passes  resolution  to  impeach  John 
son,  332-335  ;  appoints  a  commit 
tee  to  impeach,  335  ;  last  days  of 
Stevens  in,  349,  350. 

House  of  Representatives  of  Penn 
sylvania,  career  of  Stevens  in, 
31-56 ;  appoints  committee  to 
investigate  Masonry,  32  ;  rejects 
bill  to  suppress  Masonry,  34  ; 
passes  bill  for  free  public  schools, 
35  ;  driven  by  popular  excitement 
for  repeal  of  law,  37  ;  Stevens's 
speech  in,  for  free  schools,  38-45  ; 
votes  against  repeal,  40;  carried 
by  anti-Masons,  46  ;  fails  to  in 
vestigate  Masonry,  46  ;  charters 
Bank  of  United  States,  47;  con 
test  over  organization  of,  between 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  51-54  ; 
captured  by  Democrats,  54;  re 
fusal  of  Stevens  to  attend,  53, 
54 ;  expels  Stevens,  54 ;  later  ex 
pels  Democratic  leader,  55 ;  later 
career  of  Stevens  in,  56. 

Houston,  Samuel,  proposes  exten 
sion  of  Missouri  Compromise  line, 
121. 

Hunter,  General  David,  praised  by 
Stevens  for  arming  negroes,  215. 

ILLINOIS,  carried  by  Democrats  in 
1862,  220. 

Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
323-348  ;  steps  leading  up  to, 
332-337  ;  articles  of,  337-339  ; 
managers  of,  337,  338  ;  Johnson's 
counsel  for  defense,  338,  339; 
trial,  339-345;  centre  of  effort 
on  tenure-of-office  question,  340- 
342 ;  speech  of  Stevens  upon, 
343,  344;  vote  upon,  344,  345; 
acquittal  of  Johnson,  345;  con 
trasted  with  impeachment  of  War 
ren  Hastings,  346-348. 


Indiana,  carried  by  Democrats  in 

1862,  220. 
Iowa,    carried    by  Republicans   in 

1862,  221. 

JACKSON,  ANDBEW,  attacked  by  Ste 
vens,  31. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  in  House  in  1849, 
70 ;  continues  Lincoln's  plan  of 
reconstruction,  241  ;  probably  per 
suaded  by  cabinet,  241,  242  ;  be 
comes  President,  his  character, 
244  ;  his  egotism  and  vindictive- 
ness,  245,  246  ;  issues  amnesty  and 
reconstruction  proclamation,  246, 
247 ;  his  temporary  popularity, 
249 ;  protected  at  first  by  Lin 
coln's  prestige,  258;  attacked  by 
Stevens,  261-263  ;  denounces  com 
mittee  on  reconstruction,  265 ; 
satirically  eulogized  by  Stevens, 
267-269;  his  inconsistencies  shown 
up  by  Stevens,  269,  270;  vetoes 
Freedmen's  Bureau  bill,  270; 
vetoes  other  bills,  which  are 
passed  nevertheless,  271  ;  his 
tour  "  swinging  round  the  circle," 
280,  281;  his  violent  language, 
281  ;  sarcastic  speech  of  Stevens 
upon,  282-284  ;  becomes  a  nullity 
in  government,  284  ;  his  message 
of  December,  1866,  285 ;  tries  to 
kill  reconstruction  act  by  delay 
ing  veto,  291 ;  early  threatened 
with  impeachment,  323;  quoted 
by  Stevens  as  authority  for  con 
fiscation,  324,  325  ;  failure  of  first 
attempt  to  impeach,  326,  327; 
enrages  Congressmen  by  his  use 
of  patronage,  327 ;  defies  tenure- 
of-office  act,  328 ;  asks  Stanton 
to  resign,  329 ;  removes  him  and 
substitutes  Grant,  330  ;  ignored  by 
Stanton,  332  ;  again  removes  him, 
332  ;  resolution  to  impeach,  intro 
duced  by  Stevens,  333  ;  bitterly 
denounced,  334 ;  impeached  before 
Senate,  335,  337  ;  his  defence  by 
Evarts  and  Curtis,  339-342 ;  Ste- 


INDEX 


361 


vens's  argument  against,  343, 344; 
acquitted,  344,  345. 
Johnson,  Reverdy,  on  impeachment, 
345. 

KANSAS,  attempt  of  South  to  gain 
control  of,  102;  carried  by  Repub 
licans  in  1862,  221. 

King,  Preston,  in  House  in  1849,  69. 

Know  -  Nothing  party,  controls 
House  in  1854,  96. 

LECKY,  W.  E.  H.,  on  carpet-bag 
government,  303. 

Legal-tender  notes,  Ste vens's  argu 
ment  for,  160-167.  See  Financial 
History. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  his  skill  as  leader 
of  Republicans,  111;  nominated 
for  president,  112 ;  significance 
of  his  election  by  a  minority  vote, 
112,  113;  his  caution,  136;  se 
lects  his  cabinet  out  of  all  ele 
ments  of  party,  136  ;  obliged  to 
act. by  fall  of  Fort  Suinter,  137; 
begins  war  for  the  Union,  138;  his 
war  message  asking  for  money 
and  men,  139,  140;  attacked  by 
Vallandigham,  144 ;  declares 
Southern  ports  blockaded,  185 ; 
criticised  for  slowness  by  Stevens, 
186;  his  action  called  unconsti 
tutional,  192  ;  indemnified  by  Con 
gress  for  suspending  habeas  cor 
pus,  194,  195 ;  reluctant  to  ap 
prove  confiscation  act,  199  ;  asked 
to  cancel  order  prohibiting  ne 
groes  to  enter  Union  lines,  216  ; 
asks  Congress  to  offer  to  aid 
States  in  compensated  emanci 
pation,  216;  his  plan  sneered  at  by 
Stevens,  216;  finally  sees  neces 
sity  of  emancipation,  217,  218 ; 
issues  proclamation,  218,  222 ; 
continues  to  hope  for  compensa 
tion,  222  ;  reelected,  226  ;  sug 
gests  reconstruction,  231 ;  issues 
amnesty  proclamation,  232 ;  his 
plan  opposed  by  Stevens,  233; 
vetoes  reconstruction  bill,  237 ; 


his  plan  criticised,  237  ;  signs  re 
solution  excluding  reconstructed 
States  from  presidential  election, 
239;  prepares  to  carry  his  plan 
through,  239-241 ;  his  ideas  fol 
lowed  by  Johnson,  241,  242;  his 
cabinet  brings  Johnson  to  follow 
him,  241 ;  would  have  avoided  a 
rupture  with  Congress  had  he 
lived,  242,  243,  308;  his  influence 
at  first  makes  Congress  unwilling 
to  quarrel  with  Johnson,  258 ; 
anecdotes  concerning,  311,  315; 
eulogized  by  Stevens,  326. 

Louisiana,  reconstruction  in,  233 ; 
senators  and  representatives  from, 
excluded  from  Congress,  234 ; 
question  of  its  status,  234. 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  introduces  bill  pro 
hibiting  slavery  in  Territories, 
217. 

MCCLELLAN,  GENERAL  GEORGE  B., 
his  incompetence  described  by 
Stevens,  197,  198  ;  candidate  for 
presidency,  226  ;  sarcasm  of  Ste 
vens  upon,  315. 

McClure,  Alexander  K.,  on  relations 
of  Harrison  with  Stevens,  57  ;  de 
scribes  Ste  vens's  legal  ability,  92. 

McCulloch,  Hugh,  on  Johnson's 
reconstruction  policy  as  continu 
ing  Lincoln's,  241. 

McElwee,  Thomas  B. ,  proposes  com 
mittee  of  Pennsylvania  to  inves 
tigate  Stevens's  conduct,  54  ;  ex 
pelled  from  legislature,  55. 

McLean,  John  T.,  preferred  by  Ste 
vens  for  president,  112. 

Mann,  Horace,  in  House  in  1849,  69  ; 
supports  Stevens  for  speaker,  86. 

Maryland,  Stevens's  bar  examina 
tion  in,  21-23. 

Maynard,  Horace,  question  of  valid 
ity  of  his  election  to  House,  257 ; 
joke  of  Stevens  upon,  as  a  "half- 
breed,"  315,  316. 

Minnesota,  carried  by  Republicans 
in  1862,  221. 

Mississippi,  passes  apprentice  and 


362 


INDEX 


contract  laws  for  negroes,  250, 
251. 

Missouri  Compromise  repealed  by 
South,  101. 

Moore,  Professor,  at  Dartmouth 
College,  13. 

Morgan,  William,  murdered  by  Ma 
sons,  29. 

Morrill,  Justin  S.,  opposes  issue  of 
legal-tender  notes,  160;  on  Com 
mittee  on  Reconstruction,  259. 

NEW  ENGLAND,  remains  Republican 
in  1862,  221. 

New  Mexico,  its  admission  as  a 
slave  State  proposed  in  1861  to 
pacify  the  South,  126,  129. 

New  York,  carried  by  Democrats  in 
1862,  220. 

North,  its  subserviency  to  South 
denounced  by  Stevens,  83,  84,  98 ; 
stirred  to  anger  by  repeal  of  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  102 ;  rebuked 
by  Buchanan  for  having  forced 
South  to  secede,  116  ;  defended  by 
Stevens,  125  ;  its  timidity  in  1861, 
130  ;  not  led  by  abolitionists,  133, 
134;  swayed  by  sentiments  of 
Union  taught  by  Webster  and 
Clay,  134,  135 ;  rises  at  news  of 
Fort  Sumter,  137,  138 ;  ceases  to 
volunteer,  195 ;  alters  attitude 
toward  slavery  during  war,  212; 
begins  to  consider  its  abolition 
necessary  to  end  war,  212  ;  disaf 
fection  in,  over  emancipation  and 
draft,  223,  224  ;  disgusted  at  anti- 
negro  laws  of  South,  254,  255. 

North  Carolina,  reconstruction  of, 
under  Johnson,  246,  247 ;  "  car 
pet-bag"  government  in,  301. 

OHIO,  carried  by  Democrats  in  1862, 
220. 

PATTON,  GOVERNOR,  vetoes  Alabama 
anti-negro  laws,  252. 

Pennsylvania,  reasons  for  Stevens's 
removal  to,  20;  organization  of 
anti-Masons  in,  29,  30  ;  Stevens's 


political  career  in,  31-65 ;  public 
school  system  of,  34;  objection 
of  its  inhabitants  to  taxation  for 
schools,  35,36;  agitation  in,  against 
free  schools,  36;  carried  by  anti- 
Masons,  46 ;  charters  Bank  of 
United  States,  47;  constitutional 
convention,  47,  48  ;  limits  suffrage 
to  whites,  48  ;  anti-abolition  con 
vention  in,  49;  "  Buckshot  war  " 
in,  over  organization  of  House, 
51-54 ;  reputation  of  Stevens  in, 
56,  91;  Democrats  gain  in,  dur 
ing  1862,  220;  renominates  Ste 
vens  after  his  death,  352,  353. 

Pennsylvania  College,  gets  state  aid 
through  Stevens,  33. 

Phelps,  Abner,  an  anti-Mason  in 
1832,  30. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  denounced  by 
Johnson,  265,  281. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  attacked  by  Ste 
vens,  87;  promises  to  maintain 
compromise,  101. 

Pierpont,  Francis  H.,  governor  of 
reconstructed  Virginia,  269. 

Protection,  Stevens's  arguments 
for,  105. 

RAYMOND,  HENRY  J.,  defends  John 
son's  reconstruction  policy,  264 ; 
sneered  at  by  Stevens,  266. 

Reed,  John  M.,  in  Castner  Hanway 
suit,  91. 

Reconstruction,  begun  in  Louisiana, 
231 ;  plan  of,  outlined  by  Lincoln, 
231-233 ;  President's  plan  of,  dis 
pleases  Congress,  233 ;  congress 
ional  plan  of,  formed  and  passed, 
234-237  ;  vetoed  by  Lincoln,  237  ; 
superiority  of  congressional  plan 
over  Lincoln's,  238 ;  controversy 
over,  postponed  until  after  Lin 
coln's  death,  238,  239  ;  its  prob 
able  course,  had  Lincoln  lived, 
239-243;  identity  of  Lincoln's 
and  Johnson's  plans  for,  240-242  ; 
Johnson's  plan  of,  promulgated, 
246-248  ;  working  of  Johnson's 
plan,  249-255;  joint  committee 


INDEX 


on,  appointed  by  Congress,  258, 
259 ;  Stevens's  conquered-pro- 
vince  theory  of,  261,  262,  266,  267, 
269;  report  of  committee  on,  273- 
275  ;  Stevens's  theory  of,  adopted 
by  Congress,  273-275,  294 ;  negro 
suffrage  advocated  as  part  of,  by 
Stevens,  276,  277,  286  ;  and  by  the 
North,  278,  279  ;  message  of  John 
son  upon,  in  1866,  285 ;  joint  com 
mittee  on,  renewed,  285 ;  bill  for, 
reported  to  House,  288  ;  debate 
upon,  290,  291 ;  vetoed  by  John 
son,  291 ;  passed  over  veto,  292 ; 
alterations  in  bill  for,  as  passed, 
292-294  ;  efficacy  of,  damaged  by 
representation  clause,  294,  295; 
discussion  of  process  of,  296- 
308 ;  necessity  of  thoroughness 
in,  297,  298 ;  effectiveness  of  mili 
tary  government  under,  298,  299 ; 
carpet-bag  government  under, 
299-305 ;  violent  overturn  of  negro 
rule  after,  304;  justified  by  ne 
cessity,  305-308 ;  by  impossibility 
of  leaving  negroes  to  mercy  of 
whites,  306,  307  ;  rendered  harsh 
by  fact  of  Johnson's  presidency, 
308 ;  further  acts  to  carry  out, 
passed  over  veto,  326. 
Republican  party,  attempt  of  Ste 
vens  and  others  to  form,  in  1855, 
93;  organized  in  1856,  94;  its 
struggle  for  control  of  House  in 
1859,  96-101 ;  succeeds  after  eight 
weeks,  104 ;  its  national  conven 
tion  of  1860,  112  ;  elects  Lincoln 
by  a  minority  vote,  112,  113  ;  at 
tempt  of  Lincoln  to  unite,  by 
cabinet  appointments,  136,  137 ; 
supports  Crittenden  resolution, 
148;  saved  by  Border  States  in 
1862,  220,  221;  committed  to 
emancipation,  223;  reasons  for 
its  nomination  of  Johnson,  244; 
leadership  of,  by  Stevens,  in  re 
construction  period,  259 ;  success 
ful  in  elections  of  1866,  284 ;  irri 
tated  at  Johnson's  control  of 
offices,  327,  328. 


Ritner,  Joseph,  anti-Masonic  can 
didate  for  governor  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  30  ;  renominated  and  elected, 
46;  appoints  Stevens  on  Canal 
Commission,  50  ;  defeated  for 
reelection,  51  ;  issues  proclama 
tion  calling  Democrats  an  "in 
furiated  mob,"  52. 

SACCHI, ,  anecdote  of  his  de 
fense  by  Conkling  and  Stevens, 
313. 

Schenck,  Robert  C.,  in  House  in 
1849,  70. 

Schools,  public,  in  Pennsylvania, 
controversy  over,  34-45  ;  Ste 
vens's  great  speech  in  behalf  of, 
38-45. 

Schwarz,  John,  eulogy  of  Stevens 
upon,  95. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  praised  by 
Stevens,  87,  88 ;  defeated  for 
presidency,  88. 

Secession,  Stevens's  argument  upon, 
125,  126. 

Senate,  of  United  States,  empow 
ered  by  tenure-of-office  act  to 
prevent  removals  from  office, 
329  ;  refuses  to  ratify  removal  of 
Stanton  by  Johnson,  331 ;  appear 
ance  of  Stevens  before,  to  im 
peach  Johnson,  335-337 ;  more 
than  two  thirds  Republican,  344; 
fails  to  convict  Johnson,  345. 

Seward,  William  H.,  an  anti- 
Mason  in  1830,  30  ;  unsuited  to 
be  a  Republican  candidate,  112 ; 
his  influence  upon  Johnson,  246  ; 
accompanies  Johnson  on  tour, 
281 ;  held  responsible  by  Stevens 
for  Johnson's  change  of  attitude 
toward  rebels,  325. 

Shellabarger,  Samuel,  replies  to 
Raymond's  speech  defending 
Johnson,  264. 

Sherman,  John,  Republican  candi 
date  for  speaker  in  1859,  97 ;  his 
high  rank  as  financier,  144. 

Shurtleff,  Professor,  at  Dartmouth 
College,  13. 


364 


INDEX 


Sickles,  Daniel  E.,  vetoes  South 
Carolina  black  code  after  the 
war,  251,  252. 

Slavery,  causes  of  struggle  over,  in 
Territories,  72  ;  speeches  of  Ste 
vens  against,  76-78,  80-85,  127, 
128 ;  passage  of  constitutional 
amendment  to  preserve,  129  ; 
with  outbreak  of  war,  ceases  to 
be  main  political  issue,  130,  131  ; 
steps  by  which  it  became  neces 
sary  to  South,  132 ;  in  course  of 
war,  becomes  again  a  political 
issue,  212  ;  its  abolition  urged  by 
Stevens,  212;  abolished  in  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  and  in  Terri 
tories,  217;  abolished  by  thir 
teenth  amendment,  225,  226 ; 
could  have  been  abolished  only 
by  a  convulsion,  226-228. 

Slaves,  of  secessionists,  proposal  of 
Stevens  to  emancipate,  213-215 ; 
arming  of,  advocated  by  Stevens, 

215,  222,  223  ;  compensated  eman 
cipation  of,  urged  by  President, 

216,  222;    emancipated    by  Lin 
coln's  proclamation,  217,  218,  222. 

Simith,  Dr.  George,  describes  effect 
of  Stevens's  speech  on  free 
schools  in  Pennsylvania  legisla 
ture,  39. 

South,  wishes  to  profit  from  Mexi 
can  war,  72 ;  exasperated  by 
Castner  Han  way  case,  90  ;  mem 
bers  of  Congress  from,  exasper 
ated  by  Stevens,  98,  99 ;  its  bad 
faith  in  carrying  repeal  of  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  102  ;  responsi 
ble  for  reentrance  of  slavery  into 
national  politics,  110;  sees  that 
election  of  1860  means  its  own 
ultimate  decline,  113,  114  ;  urged 
by  Buchanan  not  to  secede,  117  ; 
encouraged  by  Buchanan's  mes 
sage,  118 ;  refuses  to  consider 
compromise  offers,  124,  129; 
forms  Southern  Confederacy,  129, 
130  ;  not  responsible  for  exist 
ence  of  slavery,  131  ;  at  first  dis 
posed  to  abandon  it,  131;  later 


bound  .  to  it  economically,  132  ; 
necessity  of  blockading,  during 
war,  182,  183;  proposal  of  Ste 
vens  to  repeal  laws  creating  ports 
of  entry  in,  183-185 ;  constitu 
tional  status  of,  according  to 
Stevens,  191,  192  ;  confiscates 
property  of  alien  enemies,  198, 
199  ;  resolution  of  Stevens  to 
confiscate  slaves  of,  213 ;  rapid 
reconstruction  of,  under  Johnson, 
249;  in  hands  of  rebels,  249; 
passes  laws  to  reduce  negroes  to 
servitude,  250-253  ;  turns  North 
against  it  by  anti-negro  laws, 
254,  255;  proposal  of  Stevens  to 
rule,  through  negro  vote,  262, 
263;  rejects  fourteenth  amend 
ment,  272,  285,  286;  turbulent 
condition  of,  289  ;  carpet-bag 
government  in,  299-305 ;  turns  to 
violence  to  escape  negro  rule, 
304,  305  ;  would  have  oppressed 
negroes  but  for  reconstruction, 
307  ;  proposal  of  Stevens  to  pun 
ish  leading  rebels  by  confiscation, 
323-326. 

South  Carolina,  leads  in  secession, 
115  ;  sends  "  ambassadors  "  to 
ask  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter, 
118  ;  when  reconstructed,  passes 
laws  oppressing  negroes,  251,  252 ; 
carpet-bag  government  in,  302- 
304. 

Speed,  James,  resigns  from  John 
son's  cabinet,  278. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  declines  to 
order  inquiry  upon  responsibility 
for  Ball's  Bluff,  193  ;  presents 
Lincoln's  reconstruction  plan  to 
Johnson,  241 ;  remains  in  John 
son's  cabinet,  277  ;  requested  by 
Johnson  to  resign,  329 ;  remains 
in  office  to  antagonize  Johnson, 
330 ;  refuses  to  resign  and  is  re 
moved,  330 ;  his  removal  not  al 
lowed  by  the  Senate,  331  ;  sends 
message  to  House,  331 ;  ignores 
Johnson,  and  is  again  removed, 
331,  332. 


INDEX 


365 


Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  in  House 
in  1849,  70. 

Stevens,  Joshua,  father  of  Thad- 
deus  Stevens,  1  ;  his  career,  2,  3. 

Stevens,  Sally,  mother  of  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  1  ;  determines  to  send 
Thaddeus  to  college,  7,  10;  her 
courage  during  pestilence,  8  ;  in 
debtedness  of  Thaddeus  to  her,  8. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  birth  and  ances 
try,  1,  2 ;  learns  shoemaking,  2 ; 
boyhood,  6, 7  ;  his  ambition  kin 
dled  by  visit  to  Boston,  7  ;  aids  his 
mother  in  visiting  the  sick,  8 ;  his 
gratitude  to  his  mother,  8,  9 ; 
education  and  school  life,  11,  12; 
studies  at  Dartmouth,  12-16; 
gains  literary  accuracy,  16 ;  at 
University  of  Vermont,  16,  17; 
writes  a  tragedy,  17  ;  anecdote  of 
his  killing  a  cow,  17,  18 ;  studies 
law,  19  ;  moves  to  Pennsylvania 
and  teaches  school,  19,  20 ;  gains 
a  hatred  of  slavery,  20,  21  ;  ad 
mitted  to  Maryland  bar,  21-23; 
begins  practice  at  Gettysburg, 
24 ;  first  success  in  murder  case, 
25,  26  ;  gains  an  important  prac 
tice,  26  ;  aids  fugitive  slaves,  26  ; 
his  early  political  views,  28. 
In  Pennsylvania  Legislature. 
Joins  anti-Masons,  29;  at  na 
tional  convention,  30 ;  slow  to 
admit  decline  of  party,  30,  31  ; 
elected  to  Pennsylvania  House  of 
Representatives,  31  ;  attacks  Jack 
son,  31 ;  attacks  Masonry,  31-33  ; 
secures  aid  for  Pennsylvania  Col 
lege,  33  ;  reflected  to  legislature, 
33 ;  determines  to  oppose  repeal 
of  free-school  bill,  37,  38  ;  his 
great  speech  against  repeal,  38- 
45 ;  turns  opinion  of  legislature, 
40  ;  thanked  by  Governor  Wolf, 
41 ;  becomes  a  leader  in  the  State, 
45  ;  again  reflected,  attacks  Ma 
sonry,  46  ;  introduces  bill  to  char 
ter  United  States  Bank,  47. 
In  Constitutional  Convention. 
Elected  to  constitutional  conven 


tion,  47 ;  leads  radicals,  47 ;  op 
poses  Democratic  majority,  47, 

48  ;  his  bitterness  in  debate,  48  ; 
opposes  discrimination  on  account 
of  color,  48  ;  refuses  to  sign  Con 
stitution,  48  ;    upsets    a    pro-sla 
very  convention    at  Harrisburg, 

49  ;  his  personalities,  49,  50. 

In  Legislature.  His  speech  in 
favor  of  endowing  colleges,  50; 
appointed  on  Canal  Commission, 
50 ;  said  to  have  used  public 
money  to  aid  Whigs,  51;  leads 
Whigs  in  separate  organization  of 
legislature,  52  ;  obliged  to  escape 
through  a  window,  52;  calls  the 
Democrats  rebels,  53;  refuses  to 
submit  to  Democratic  victory,  53 ; 
at  constituents'  request,  attends 
legislature,  54  ;  refuses  to  appear 
before  committee  to  investigate 
his  conduct,  54  ;  expelled  from 
House,  54;  announces  himself  a 
candidate  for  reelection,  55 ;  as 
sails  legality  of  legislature,  55; 
reflected,  55,  56  ;  speech  in  favor 
of  right  of  petition,  56 ;  favors 
banks,  56 ;  summary  of  his  career 
thus  far,  56  ;  greatest  debater  in 
the  State,  56  ;  supports  Harrison 
for  president,  56;  mentioned  for 
a  cabinet  position,  57  ;  involved 
in  financial  disaster,  58  ;  retires 
from  politics  to  retrieve  himself, 
58  ;  practices  law  successfully  at 
Lancaster,  58,  59  ;  gains  leader 
ship  of  bar,  59 ;  his  legal  meth 
ods,  59,  60 ;  continues  to  defend 
fugitive  slaves,  60 ;  opposed  by 
Whig  machine  in  Lancaster,  60, 
61;  tries  to  divide  Whigs  in  1843 
on  Masonic  issue,  61  ;  ignored  by 
party,  retires  from  politics,  61, 
62  ;  his  aid  begged  by  Clay  in 
1844,  62;  outdoes  Webster  at  a 
campaign  meeting,  62,  63  ;  gains 
increasing  legal  fame,  64 ;  nomi 
nated  for  Congress  in  spite  of  the 
"machine,"  64,  65;  elected,  65. 

In  House   of    Representatives. 


366 


INDEX 


Advantage  of  his  previous  train 
ing,  66,  67  ;  leads  radical  Whigs, 
70  ;  candidate  of  Free  -  soilers 
for  speaker,  71  ;  attacks  proposed 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  75  ;  attacks 
slavery,  but  admits  binding  force 
of  constitutional  guards,  76-78  ; 
on  economic  weakness  of  sla 
very,  77,  78  ;  urges  prevention  of 
slavery  extension,  78  ;  on  Judi 
ciary  Committee,  79;  speech  on 
California,  79 ;  again  attacks  sla 
very,  79-84;  on  fugitive  slaves, 
82-85;  condemns  Webster  and 
Clay,  84 ;  votes  against  conces 
sions  to  South,  85  ;  in  next  Con 
gress  receives  votes  of  radicals 
for  speaker,  86  ;  speech  upon  the 
tariff,  86,  87;  campaign  speech 
upon  Pierce's  candidacy,  87; 
praises  Scott,  88  ;  his  last  speech, 
89  ;  retires  to  private  life,  89  ;  re 
sumes  practice  of  law,  89  ;  Han- 
way  treason  case,  90,  91 ;  increases 
his  practice,  91 ;  his  ability  and 
methods  described,  92,  93;  dis 
approves  of  compromises  of  Whig 
party,  93 ;  attends  meeting  to 
form  Republican  party,  93  ;  dele 
gate  to  Republican  convention, 
94 ;  reflected  to  Congress,  94 ;  his 
career  reviewed  to  this  point,  94, 
95 ;  feels  burden  of  age,  95,  96 ; 
taunts  Southern  members  who 
threaten  secession,  98  ;  his  humor 
ous  remarks,  99,  100  ;  enjoys  the 
radical  feeling  of  Northern  mem 
bers,  102, 103  ;  attacked  by  South 
ern  members,  103 ;  his  replies, 
103,  104 ;  on  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means,  104  ;  tries  to  prove 
English  policy  protective,  105 ; 
condemns  partisan  decisions  of 
contested  election  cases,  106;  his 
later  partisanship,  107 ;  attacks 
grant  to  Chiriqui  Improvement 
Company,  108  ;  attacks  Granada 
scheme,  109 ;  in  Republican  con 
vention,  favors  McLean  for  presi 
dent,  112 ;  votes  for  Lincoln,  112  ; 


presents  resolution  calling  upon 
President  to  report  on  defense  of 
Southern  forts,  119  ;  votes  against 
compromise  propositions,  123  ;  his 
speech  against  yielding  to  South, 
124-127 ;  condemns  Buchanan, 
125 ;  on  secession,  126, 127  ;  effect 
of  his  speech,  127,  128;  keen  to 
see  real  situation,  128  ;  candidate 
for  a  position  in  Lincoln's  cabinet, 
136  ;  assumes  leadership  of  House, 
138 ;  at  head  of  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  139;  reports 
first  bill  for  a  loan,  144;  intro 
duces  appropriations  for  army 
and  navy,  145 ;  introduces  reve 
nue  bills,  146 ;  defends  the  land 
tax,  147  ;  withholds  vote  on  Crit- 
tenden  resolution,  148;  later, 
moves  to  lay  it  on  table,  148 ; 
supports  confiscation  bill  to  free 
slaves,  149  ;  on  real  object  of  the 
war,  149 ;  predicts  emancipation, 
150 ;  reports  bill  for  issue  of  legal 
tender,  160 ;  his  speech  in  its  be- 
half,  160-167;  argues  its  neces- 
ity,  161-163;  on  its  constitution 
ality,  163,  164;  and  expediency, 
164 ;  later  admits  depreciation 
and  inflation,  167  ;  opposes  pay 
ments  on  bonds  in  coin,  168 ;  his 
course  necessary,  172 ;  introduces 
other  financial  measures,  174, 1 78  ; 
proposes  to  repeal  bill  creating 
Southern  ports  of  entry,  183; 
condemns  blockade,  184  ;  on  Eng 
land's  policy,  184, 185  ;  objections 
to  his  measure,  186 ;  criticises 
Lincoln's  slowness,  186  ;  condemns 
extravagance  of  administration, 
186,  187  ;  considers  Constitution 
as  set  aside  in  the  South,  188, 191; 
ridicules  theory  of  consent  of 
Virginia  to  admission  of  West 
Virginia,  190, 191 ;  condemns  Lin 
coln's  attitude  toward  seceded 
States,  192  ;  condemns  Lincoln's 
claim  to  uncontrolled  command 
over  army,  193 ;  introduces  bill 
to  indemnify  President  for  suspeu- 


INDEX 


367 


sion  of  habeas  corpus,  194,  195 ; 
accuses  Democrats  of  rendering 
draft  necessary,  196;  his  retort 
to  Vallandigham,  197  ;  comments 
on  McClellan's  ability,  198 ;  de 
nies  that  seceding  States  are  in 
Union,  200 ;  on  belligerent  status 
of  rebels,  201,  202  ;  too  radical 
for  his  party,  202,  203  ;  urges  se 
vere  punishment  of  South,  203 ; 
favors  construction  of  Pacific  rail 
roads,  203 ;  opposes  useless  im 
provement  of  Illinois  River,  204 ; 
urges  payment  of  principal  of 
debt  in  coin,  204-206  ;  becomes 
advocate  of  paper  money,  207 ; 
his  unquestioned  leadership  in 
House,  208,  209;  on  Crittenden 
resolutions,  211 ;  favors  arming 
slaves,  212;  urges  action  against 
slavery,  213 ;  on  advantages  of 
emancipation,  214,  215;  despises 
Lincoln's  plan  for  compensated 
emancipation,  216,  217 ;  moves 
abolition  in  District  of  Columbia, 
217;  supports  emancipation  hi  Ter 
ritories,  217  ;  urges  enlistment  of 
negroes,  222,  223  ;  proposes  con 
stitutional  amendment  abolishing 
slavery,  225  ;  considers  rights  of 
seceding  States  destroyed,  229, 
230  ;  votes  against  admission  of 
Louisiana  delegates,  231 ;  opposes 
Lincoln's  plan  of  reconstruction, 
233  ;  opposes  congressional  plan 
of  reconstruction,  235-237  ;  votes 
reluctantly  to  nominate  Johnson 
for  vice-president,  244 ;  prepares 
to  oppose  Johnson's  plan  of  re 
construction,  257,  258 ;  moves 
for  a  committee  of  inquiry,  258  ; 
shows  skill  by  delaying  attack, 
259 ;  his  work  on  Committee  on 
Appropriations,  260 ;  suggests 
fourteenth  amendment,  260 ;  his 
constitutional  theory  of  recon 
struction,  261,  262 ;  proposes  to 
delay  admission  of  Southern  Con 
gressmen  until  Constitution  is 
amended,  262 ;  urges  negro  suf 


frage  to  aid  Republicans,  263  ; 
condemns  results  of  presidential 
reconstruction,  263  ;  proposes  to 
reduce  representation  of  South 
if  negroes  cannot  vote,  264;  at 
tacked  by  Johnson,  265 ;  his  scorn 
ful  answer  to  Raymond,  266  ;  de 
nies  secession  to  be  more  than  de 
facto,  266,  267  ;  makes  a  mock 
defense  of  Johnson,  267-269; 
ridicules  fictions  of  Johnson's 
reconstruction  plan,  269,  270 ; 
reports  fourteenth  amendment, 

271  ;  proposes  to  admit  any  State 
ratifying  fourteenth  amendment, 

272  ;  presents  report  of  Committee 
on  Reconstruction,  273-275;  ad 
vocates  giving  negroes  suffrage, 
275-277;   suffers  from  ill-health, 
280 ;  denounced  by  Johnson,  281 ; 
his  sarcastic  remarks  on  Johnson's 
tour,     282-284;     reports    recon 
struction  bill,  285  ;   his  opinions 
inflexible,    286;     urges    courage, 
287;  opposes  bill  to  punish  trai 
tors,  287;  urges  immediate  estab 
lishment  of  military  governments 
in  South,  288;    opposes   Elaine's 
amendment  offering  amnesty,  290 ; 
forces  bill  through  House,   292; 
not  responsible  for  representation 
clause  in  fourteenth  amendment, 
294;  proposes  apportionment  ac 
cording  to  legal  voters,  295  ;  does 
right  in  discarding   legal  techni 
calities,  296,  297;  not  a  parchment 
worshiper,  298;  his  wit  and  hu 
mor,  309-311 ;  anecdotes  concern 
ing,  311-317;  his  joke  upon  Cam 
eron,  311,  312;  defends  Fremont 
at  Blair's  expense,  312,  313;  punc 
tures  Conkling's  grandiloquence, 
313,  314;  sarcasms  upon  Brooks 
of    New    York,  314,    315 ;    upon 
Maynard,  316;  upon  Davis,  316, 
317;     personal  appearance,    317, 
318;  fondness  for  riding,  318:  for 
study,  319;  his  manner  in  speak 
ing,    319,    320 ;    unsuccessful   jfh 
private  business,  320  ;  his   iron- 


368 


INDEX 


works  burned  by  Confederates, 
321  ;  refuses  help  offered  by 
friends,  321  ;  reasons  for  his  par 
liamentary  success,  321 ;  com 
pared  to  Clay,  322;  introduces 
bill  to  confiscate  public  lands  in 
Confederate  States,  324,  325 ;  his 
proposition  unwise,  325  ;  remark 
upon  Lincoln,  326  ;  considers  im 
peachment  impracticable,  326, 
327  ;  votes  for  it,  328  ;  moves  im 
peachment  after  Johnson's  de 
fiance  of  tenure-of-offlce  act, 
333  ;  attacks  Johnson  bitterly  in 
speech,  334 ;  indifferent  as  to 
Grant,  334  ;  chairman  of  commit 
tee  to  impeach,  335 ;  delivers  mes 
sage  to  Senate,  335-337  ;  on  com 
mittee  to  prepare  articles  of  im 
peachment,  337 ;  prevented  by 
illness  from  managing  case,  337  ; 
responsible  for  main  strength  of 
impeachment,  343  ;  unable  to  de 
liver  all  of  his  speech,  343,  344 , 
expects  Johnson's  condemnation, 
344;  disappointed  at  defeat  of 
impeachment,  349 ;  continues  to 
participate  in  business  of  House, 
349 ;  reviews  case,  349  ;  praises 
czar  of  Russia,  350 ;  remains  in 
Washington  during  recess  to  re 
gain  strength,  350  ;  remains  cheer 
ful  to  the  end,  351 ;  on  purchase 
of  Alaska,  351 ;  last  moments 
and  death,  352  ;  renominated  by 
Republicans  of  his  district,  353 ; 
final  estimate  of  his  character, 
353. 

/Personal  Traits.  Ambition,  7, 
19,  37,  61,  94,  136  ;  business  vabil- 
ity,  58,  320;  cheerfulness,  350; 
courage,  24,  38,  89,  127, 147  ;  edu 
cation,  9,16,  22;  generosity,  18, 
26,  89;  legal  ability,  25,  27,  58- 
60,  64,  91-94;  literary  tastes, 
9;  leadership,  138, 145, 208,  259, 
286;  oratory,  16,39-44,  63,  79,85, 
160,  319,  336;  parliamentary  abil- 
tty,  67,  94,  320-322;  partisanship, 
47,  48,  51-55,  56,  87,  88,  106,  107, 


196 ;  personal  appearance,  38,  39, 
317,  318;  radicalism,  102, 128,  286  ; 
sarcasm,  41,  48,  85,  98,  108,  109, 
137,  145,  198,  258,  266,  309-317, 

325,  334  ;  vindictiveness,  149,  287, 
288,  325,  326  ;  wit,  49,  50,  79,  100, 
268,  269,  282-284,  309-317. 

Political  Opinions.  Alexander 
II.,  350;  anti-Masonry,  29,31-33, 
46,  61  ;  blockade,  183-185  ;  com 
promise  of  1850,  85;  compromises 
of  1860, 121-124, 126 ;  confiscation 
act,  149,  200,  324;  Constitution, 
76,  80,  104,  127, 163,  164,  187, 191- 
194,  200-203,  230,  236,  260,  261, 
267,  274,  297,  298;  Copperheads, 
196,  197;  Crittenden  resolution, 
148,  211,  229;  direct  tax,  147;  ed 
ucation,  public,  33,  37,  39-44,  50; 
emancipation,  212-217;  fourteenth 
amendment,  271,  272,  295;  fu 
gitive  slaves,  26,  60,  75,  83-85,  89- 
91 ;  habeas  corpus,  suspension  of, 
195 ;%  impeachment  of  Johnson, 

326,  332,  336,  337,  343,  344,  349; 
legal  tender,  160-168;  negro  sol 
diers,  223 ;    negro  suffrage,   260, 
263,   264,  276,   277,   295;    Pacific 
railroads,     203 ;      reconstruction, 
233,  235,  258,  262,  263,  269,  270, 
273-275,  286,  287,  290;  secession, 
125,  126;   slavery,  21,  26,  60,  76- 
78,  80-82,  127,  149  ;   specie  pay- 
inent,  suspension  of,  204-208;  tar 
iff,  86,87,  105,  106;  war  of  1861, 
148,  186  ;  West  Virginia,  190,  191, 
269. 

Sumner,  Charles,  his  indictment  of 
slavery  surpassed  by  Stevens,  128 ; 
dislikes  issue  of  legal-tender  notes, 
but  supports  bill  authorizing  it, 
170  ;  denounced  by  Johnson,  265 ; 
on  Stevens's  terseness,  319 ;  on 
Johnson's  impeachment,  345. 

TARIFF,  speeches  of  Stevens  upon, 
86,  87,  105 ;  effect  of  act  of  1857, 
104  ;  passage  of  act  increasing  du 
ties,  105,  106. 

Taylor,    Miles,    proposes   constitu- 


INDEX 


369 


tional  amendment  in  1861  to  pre 
vent  negro  suffrage,  121. 

Ticknor,  George,  describes  Presi 
dent  Wheelock  of  Dartmouth,  13, 
14 ;  his  difficulty  in  finding  Ger 
man  books,  15. 

Toombs,  Robert,  in  House  in  1849, 
70 ;  his  violence,  97. 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  votes  against 
impeachment  of  Johnson,  345. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VERMONT,  studies  of 
Stevens  at,  16-18. 

"  VAGRANT  "  acts  against  negroes, 
249-255. 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L.,  attacks 
Lincoln,  144,  196 ;  denounces  the 
draft,  196  ;  accused  of  treason  by 
Stevens,  196,  197  ;  denounces  war 
as  for  abolition,  218 ;  offers  reso 
lutions  reaffirming  Crittenden's 
theory  of  the  war,  230. 

Vermont,  scenery  and  climate  of,  3, 
4;  democracy  of  social  life  in, 
5-7 ;  independent  spirit  of,  6 ; 
early  education  in,  9  ;  carried  by 
anti-Masons,  30. 

Virginia,  its  decay  under  slavery 
described  by  Stevens,  77,  78; 
said  by  legal  fiction  to  have  con 
sented  to  formation  of  West  Vir 
ginia,  189,  269,  270. 

WADE,  BENJAMIN  F.,  begs  Johnson 
to  be  lenient  to  rebels,  246. 

Walker,  Amasa,  anti-Mason  in  1832, 
30. 

War  of  Rebellion,  financial  bur 
dens  of,  139-148 ;  its  purpose 
stated  by  Lincoln,  139,  140;  de 
clared  to  be  for  Union  and  not 
abolition,  148 ;  begins  with  South 
ern  victories,  152  ;  general  finances 
of,  153-173  ;  blockade  in,  183-18G ; 
management  of,  condemned  by 
Stevens,  187. 

Washburne,  E.  B.,  on  Committee  on 
Reconstruction,  259 ;  humor  of 
Stevens  at  expense  of,  315. 


Watterson,  Henry,  classes  Stevens 
and  Clay  with  Pitt  and  Mirabeau, 
322. 

Webster,  Daniel,  imitates  Dr.  Whee 
lock,  14 ;  surpassed  by  Stevens  on 
the  stump,  63  ;  his  course  upon 
compromise  denounced  by  Ste 
vens,  84  ;  influence  of  his  advocacy 
of  Union,  135. 

West  Virginia,  inhabitants  of,  set  up 
a  state  government,  189 ;  applies 
for  admission,  189  ;  constitutional 
difficulties,  189;  legal  fiction  of 
Virginia's  consent  ridiculed  by 
Stevens,  189-191,  269,  270. 

Wheelock,  John,  president  of  Dart 
mouth  College,  13  ;  described  by 
George  Ticknor,  14. 

Whig  party,  its  origin,  31  ;  carries 
Pennsylvania,  46 ;  aided  by  Ste 
vens  as  canal  commissioner,  51 ; 
defeated  in  election,  51  ;  contests 
legislature  with  Democrats,  51- 
53 ;  defeated  in  "  Buckshot  war," 
53  ;  supported  by  Stevens  in  cam 
paign  of  1840,  57  ;  leaders  of,  in 
Pennsylvania,  antagonize  Stevens, 
61 ;  persuades  Stevens  to  work  in 
campaign  of  1844,  62  ;  members 
of,  join  Democrats  to  pass  Com 
promise  of  1850,  85 ;  defeated  in 
1852, 88  ;  despaired  of  by  Stevens, 
93 ;  disappears  in  1859,  96. 

Wilmot,  David,  in  House  in  1849,G9. 

Wilson, James  F.,  introduces  amend 
ment  abolishing  slavery,  225  ;  sup 
ports  impeachment  resolution, 
333 ;  a  manager  for  the  House, 
338. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  in  House  in 
1849,  69 ;  Whig  candidate  for 
speaker,  70,  71 ;  defeated  by 
Free-soilers,  71. 

Wirt,  William,  nominated  for  pre 
sident  by  anti-Masons,  30. 

Wolf,  Governor,  thanks  Stevens  for 
his  speech  on  free  schools,  41  ;  re 
marks  of  Stevens  upon,  42  ;  re 
fuses  to  testify  before  committee 
of  legislature  on  Masonry,  46. 


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